Fenton to Phantom 1: The Beginning
by Kirstyn.T
Summary: It seems Danny has finally met his match! But Danny is torn between being with Kelly amd saving Sam. Only when Sam goes missing does he realise how dire the situation really is. Secrets fly loose as they draw towards the final battle. Who will succeed?
1. Prologue

**Note: This is a rewrite of Fenton to Phantom: Not Just a Date**

Fenton to Phantom: The Beginning  
Prologue  


* * *

Sam tapped her foot impatiently against the stone footpath beneath her and checked her watch once again, to find that only a minute had passed since the last time she'd glanced at it. "Come on, Danny," Sam complained as she shifted her weight onto her left foot. "Stop mucking around and catch the ghost."  
"Yeah, don't forget, Lancer's forcing us to do that project on American history." Tucker reminded Danny with a roll of his eyes.  
Danny glanced back at his friends, irritated that they couldn't just keep quiet and let him do his 'thing'. Sure, he could've been quicker about it, but it was best to take your time when capturing a ghost, especially if it was one by the name of Klemper. What's worse was if it behaved like Klemper, attaching itself to your leg and pleading for you to accept their offer of friendship. One wrong move would bring out the wrath of this "vicious" snow ghost.  
He reached behind his back once Klemper had loosened his grip and felt his hand hit something solid. He wrapped his fingers around the cylinder shaped object and pulled it out, knocking the cap off as he did so. He ignored the fact that he probably looked stupid, pointing a thermos at a terrible ghost that was clutching his leg, he muttered triumphantly, "Bye, bye!"  
Klemper let out a moan and muttered something about revenge – as he always did – when he was sucked into the cramped up Fenton Thermos, but Danny ignored it as he replaced the cap. He glanced towards his two impatient friends – Tucker and Sam – before drifting to the ground and closing his eyes. He thought of his transformation into a human and squeezed his hands. His body was encircled by a pool of light, which covered himself and changed him into a regular boy with ink black hair and icy blue eyes.  
For Danny was a half-human, half-ghost hybrid.  
"Oh, come on, let's go." Sam huffed as she turned from Danny and Tucker, staring into the distance. "Rain's going to be here soon. I'm _not_ getting wet."  
Danny shrugged his shoulders at Tucker and jogged slightly to make up for the distance between the three of them. He could see his odd-looking house in the distance, not even a five minute walk, let alone run. If Sam was in such a hurry, so be it. He would race them both to his house, though that didn't necessarily mean he'd win.  
"I'll beat _both_ of you to my house." Danny told them confidently before increasing his speed.  
Before long, he heard the crashing of Sam's heavy boots catching up to him and Tucker's uneven footsteps as he lagged behind. Danny grinned as Sam overtook him, knowing that that'd be the result. "Come on, Tucker, its Friday!" Danny called back to his friend as he crashed through the front door of his home, into Fenton Works.

* * *

"Dinner's ready!"

Danny glanced at Tucker, whose stomach rumbled in reply. Then Danny glanced at Sam, who seemed to be dreading going down to dinner and watching two teenage boys slurping up meat juice. She rolled her eyes and raised herself from the chair that she was sitting in.  
"Quite frankly, I'd rather be doing a project on American History than sitting with you two _pigs_ at a dinner table." Sam muttered, a shiver running down her spine.  
"Say, I've forgotten… what's for dinner again?" Tucker asked absently, sniffing the air with his nose. "Smells like…"  
"Meatloaf." Danny replied as soon as Tucker exited the room. He turned to Sam with a wink. "With no meat in it."  
This was the reason that Tucker had to call his mother and go home. He mentioned to Danny that his stomach had felt like it was about to explode, which only happened when he ate the dreaded food – vegetables. This was kind of unusual, considering that the meatloaf was made entirely of meat… or so Tucker thought.  
"So, I guess it's just you and me, huh Sam." Danny muttered conversationally as they watched Tucker being hauled away by his concerned mother.  
"Actually, no. My mother called while Tucker was on the phone to his parents. She told me that she wants me home straight away. Sorry, Danny." Sam informed him.  
And that's when they left him.

* * *


	2. New Student

**The Beginning**

**Chapter One**

**New Student**

"Danny! Are you up yet? You do realise that you must leave in ten minutes!" Maddie called out to her fifteen-year-old son. When she received no reply, she shrugged and returned to the kitchen to work on another of her new gadgets. She knew that she had to use her Jack-free time wisely, and she planned to achieve as much as she possibly could without her slow-witted husband dragging her down.

Danny hadn't heard his mother calling his name, though. He was in the middle of sucking the annoying Box Ghost into the Fenton Thermos, and trying to think of a way to keep him in there for eternity. Maybe his parents may invent a weapon such as this. But then again, it'd be very dangerous for Danny, him being half-ghost and all. Plus, if he suggested the idea, he'd receive strange looks as he wasn't supposed to be interested in the ghost hunting stuff.

What he told his parents _was_ the truth though, since in fact, he wasn't interested in coming up with new ecto-weapons to destroy the pests that interrupted his life. The only reason that he hunted down ghosts was because he didn't actually have much choice in the matter. If he stopped hunting them, then the ghosts would break free of their world – the Ghost Zone – and wreak havoc on Amity Park, the town that Danny was so devoted to protecting. There was also the problem of his life being in danger if he didn't fight back when the ghosts attacked him. So all in all, he hated what he had to do.

Danny rolled his eyes as he placed the cap on the Fenton Thermos and placed it in his school bag, despite the inconvenience the Box Ghost would create. He hated taking ghosts to school with him, but since he was running low on time, it was the only choice. There was no way – apart from turning invisible and alerting the ghost-sensitive house that there were paranormal activities taking place in the room – that he could reach the Ghost Portal without his mother seeing and growing just a little bit suspicious. Anyway, he needed to take the Thermos to school, just in case a ghost showed up.

With a sigh Danny gripped the door handle and turned it slightly, letting himself into his house without making a noise. It wouldn't be smart to alert Maddie to the fact that her son hadn't been in his room, where he was _supposed_ to be. Unfortunately for Danny, he didn't know that his mother had just called out for him to hurry up, and had heard his footsteps in their earlier on in the morning.

"Danny?" Maddie asked, coming to stand in the doorway and frown at her son with suspicious eyes. "How did you get outside without me knowing? I could've sworn that you were up in your room a few minutes ago," she narrowed her eyes even further. "Have you been climbing out of your window again? One day, Jack and I are going to bolt it shut so that you can't climb out of there."

"You didn't hear me? I… uh, I went out the back door to go around and see if we had any mail." With a short glance towards the mailbox, which could be seen through a large window at the front of the house, Danny made sure that what he was telling her couldn't backfire on him. "But we didn't. Look at that, huh."

Maddie threw her irritated eyes towards the mailbox and saw that Danny was indeed telling the truth – there was no mail to be seen. "So, tell me, young man. Why did you sneak out of the back door when it would've been quicker to just go out the front door?"

"I didn't want to… disturb you, yes; I didn't want to disturb you. You hardly ever get the chance to work on your own projects, instead of always fixing dads. So, I went out the back door just so that you could get as much done as possible." Danny replied with a smug look in his eyes.

At these words Maddie's face softened and she smiled at him. "Well, thank you." She thanked him warmly before glancing absently at her watch. "Have fun at school, Danny."

"Sure will," Danny muttered before pecking his mother goodbye on the cheek and heading out the front door, to another average Monday at school.  
As soon as the front door shut behind her son, Maddie sighed to herself and turned back to look into the kitchen. She absently fiddled with the necklace that her son had given her when he was barely five years old, one that he had bought with his own supply of money and had given her with so much love in his eyes. It wasn't like that anymore.

As he was growing older, he seemed to be growing more distant too. When he was younger, he had used to come to her with all his problems, no matter how small they may seem to be. But ever since the accident that Danny was involved in when he was fourteen, he had stopped confiding in her. He had come home with bruises, scratches, injuries that had no stories behind them. He was blocking her out of his world. This must mean that his son was hiding something from her, something dangerous like drugs, alcohol or smoking.

What was her son keeping from her, and why?

* * *

"Hey, Danny! You're a bit slow this morning!" Tucker called to his best friend as Danny tried to catch up with them. "We thought you wouldn't show, didn't we, Sam?" Tucker said with a wink, nudging Sam on the shoulder.

Sam frowned at her feet – Tucker's attitude was really beginning to get on her nerves. "Yeah, that's right. What took you so long?"

Danny glanced at them, wondering if he should still be upset about their disappearance on Friday night. He had planned a night full of video games, movies, and lots of junk food. Unfortunately, he had instead spent the night sitting all alone in his room, reading a boring old comic book once again. For him, Friday nights only meant that there were two days with no school ahead of him. He'd never been to a crazy party that average fifteen-year-old boys did every Friday night. The only thing he could look forward to was the sleepovers that he and his best friends _always_ had on a Friday night. But they had taken that away from him.  
He shrugged his shoulders and looked away. "It was close, but luckily it was only the Box Ghost. Only problem is, mum's starting to get a bit suspicious."

"Are you planning on telling her?" Sam asked her friend curiously, brushing the dirt from his back.

Tucker raised an eyebrow suggestively at Sam, who began to blush furiously. "I'm sure that Sam will be able to comfort you if it goes wrong or anything."  
"Cut it out Tucker." Danny growled, ignoring the heat rushing through his face. He was quite sick of Tucker's suggestive comments by now. If only the techno-geek knew the real story behind those blushes, but then Danny dismissed that thought. He had promised Sam that he would never let the fact that they had once 'hooked up' reach Tucker's ears. They would never hear the end of it.

"Oh, you know you love it." Tucker chuckled as he hitched his glasses further upon his nose.

"No, Tucker, you don't understand." Danny growled as his eyes flashed green due to his anger. "If you really want to get to school, you'd shut up."

Tucker shrugged his shoulders just as they all heard the bell ring. The school wasn't too far ahead of them, but Danny didn't entirely feel like running to his History class. He hadn't finished his homework and Lancer was quite used to him being late. He would rather take a detour to the principal's office than arrive on time. Even though he'd get two lectures, one about being late and one about not doing his homework, Danny thought that it was worth the five minutes of class that he might miss out on. History really wasn't his favourite subject.

"You're going to be late again, aren't you?" Sam guessed, rolling her eyes.

"Sure am. You guys have fun running to class. I'll see you in a few minutes. Oh, don't forget –"

"Yeah, yeah, I'll save you a seat." Tucker replied just before the two headed for the school at a quick jog.

"Am I really that predictable?" Danny asked himself as he stopped walking and gazed off into the distance. A smile tugged on the edge of his lips as he thought about the question. "Of course not. After all, not many people would suspect that I was public enemy number one, Danny Phantom of Amity Park."

* * *

After a long stop at his locker, to gather the correct books and equipment that Danny would need for his lesson, he pulled the late note out of the front pocket of his jeans and slowly began his trip to Lancer's History classroom. To pass the time, he'd look at each door, examine the number, and try to see if he knew anyone in those classes. Anything would be better than Lancer's classroom. But he must look inconspicuous; otherwise a teacher would stumble out into the hallway and demand that he hurry to his first period class.

But no matter how slowly he may travel, it would only be a short amount of time until he came to class 24B, the class that he dreaded most at the time. And unfortunately for him, the door locked from the inside, so he couldn't slip in without drawing Lancer's attention to himself. Instead he had to knock, and wait for the storm to blow over.

The door was opened a few moments after his knock, and the teacher's balding head poked out of the crack between the door and the doorframe. "Mr. Fenton?" He sighed, disappointment evident in his tone. "You're late once again. Now, tell me, what is your ever so entertaining excuse this time?"  
Danny looked coldly at his teacher and thought of a number of inappropriate answers that he could give to the teacher. Instead, exercising a tight control on his mouth, Danny wordlessly handed up the note that had crumpled a fair bit in his hand. He dropped it into Mr Lancer's palm and didn't wait for a reply – instead he squeezed past the fat, old man and looked into the classroom.

Sam and Tucker occupied two seats at the front of the classroom, and there were two others located beside Sam's desk. Danny glared at Tucker, assuming that his geeky friend had set this is up ever so sneakily so that Danny and Sam would coincidentally be sitting next to each other. Tucker met his glare levelly and cracked a weak smile, one that read 'ha, got you'.

Danny pushed his books onto the small desk and slid into the seat, glancing behind him as he did so. The rest of the class seemed to have moved their desks to the back of the classroom, not only to escape the 'unpopular nerdy group' but also to escape the terrible missiles of spit that escaped Lancer's mouth regularly. He felt a bit annoyed at Sam and Tucker for not obtaining better seats in the classroom, but then decided that that was an unreasonable thought. He should've been here earlier.

Just as he'd gotten comfortable in his seat and pulled a pencil out of his pencil case, there was another tap at the door. Lancer glared at the door, and then turned to face the students, glaring into the eyes of each and every one of them. Everyone, that is, except for Sam. Sam was Mr Lancer's 'favourite' despite her unique sense of style and her outspokenness. She was a good student, got top marks, and tended to pay quite a bit of attention during Lancer's boring lectures. Danny didn't understand how she did it.

Lancer shuffled to the door, his fat gut wobbling with every step he took. Danny shuddered and turned away, to look out through a misted window. He hadn't noticed how cold it was outside, but that was only a result of him being a half ghost. While everyone else was huddled in a fur coat and warm pants, Danny would be in his usual attire of a shirt and a pair of jeans. It was just the way his body functioned, and there was nothing he could do about it, though it did make him feel a bit uncomfortable when he received raised eyebrows. People probably thought he was an idiot for going out in this weather without anything warm on.  
The door clicked open and all talking behind Danny ceased. He didn't pay attention though, because he assumed that it was just one of the deputy principals, coming to speak with the bumbling fool, Lancer. It happened occasionally, and since the deputy principals were harsh to students who didn't show signs of obedience, everyone had learned to be quiet when they were around.

"Ah, I see I have a new student."

Danny's head snapped up at those words. A new student? He didn't remember the last time that that had happened at Casper High. The 'haunted' high school seemed to scare students off, not draw them nearer. Not many new people arrived at Amity Park, let alone Casper High School, due to the infamous ghost attacks that occurred so frequently that the locals didn't even scream anymore. Well, not unless there was a new and creepy looking ghost lurking around.

It is then that the new student walks in, and Danny stares as he realises instantly that it is a girl, and a very pretty one at that. Her hair looked smooth and silky, long and straight, a deep fiery red. Her eyes met his briefly and the depth in them amazed him. They were the colour of an emerald, one with only small flaws to show that it was genuine. Her skin seemed to emit a faint glow even though there was only a small amount of sunlight entering the room. She smiled nervously at the gawking students in front of her, until Lancer cleared his voice.

"You may take that seat over there, next to Danny _Fenton_." Lancer spat, showing his dislike for the clumsy student who always seemed to be late for school.

The girl nodded and slid into the seat next to Danny, who found that his heart was beating faster than normal. _Stupid damn teenage hormones_, Danny thought grumpily. He watched her from the corner of his eye as she rearranged her short skirt and placed her brand new, clean books on the table in front of her. She seemed so perfect, as if she had no flaws at all.

He continued his examination of her as Lancer started to rumble on about some unimportant topic. Thankfully, he had forgotten about Danny's late arrival, due to this new student. But what was her name, if such a wondrous creature could indeed be given a name? Her pale green singlet seemed to fit her perfectly, and the black skirt she wore underneath wasn't creased at all. Over the top of the singlet she wore a black half-jacket that matched perfectly with the skirt. Surely she was the daughter of two rich people, so why would she be in a public high school such as this.

Her head turned, the fiery red hair following, not one strange out of place. "Hi," she whispered nervously, her voice that sounded like music to his ears.

His breath caught, and he reminded himself to keep it cool. "Hey," he whispered in return, his voice sounding like a nails on a chalkboard compared to hers. "I'm Danny."

"Kelly," she whispered in return, her eyes flicking slowly back to the front of the classroom to make sure that Lancer wasn't paying attention to the conversation that they were having. "My last name's Stager."

"Where're you from?" Danny asked, not wanting to end this conversation ever. That such a _goddess_ would talk to him was surely a miracle.

"Wisconsin. I moved over here with my parents and my older brother." Kelly answered distantly as she began to copy down the notes that Lancer was scribbling all over the board in his unreadable handwriting.

"I don't mean to sound rude, but why'd you move here?" Danny asked hesitantly, curious as to why a rich girl from Wisconsin would want to live in Amity Park, where it was just an average town, that was only known due to its numerous ghost sightings.

"Are you making yourself another geeky friend, Fen_turd_?" Dash remarked slyly with a grin upon his face.

Danny gritted his teeth and turned to face the blonde haired jock. "Shut it, Baxter."

"Daniel, do not speak to Mr Baxter that way!" Lancer barked as he came to stand in front of Danny's desk. Since the student didn't seem to pay any attention he slammed his ruler on the wooden desk, barely missing Danny's fingers.

"You will refrain from calling out in class in the future!" Lancer ordered Danny, turning to face the chalkboard once again.

"Uh, yeah, but if I recall it correctly, he was the one who called out to _me_. You're being completely unfair!" Danny protested.

"I know what I heard; do not accuse me of doing something unjust like that. Detention, Mr Fenton." Lancer answered cruelly, causing Danny to become silent.

"Geez, what's he got against you?" Kelly asked as she leaned over towards Danny's desk, her long hair falling onto his hand.

Danny felt his cheeks grow hot as he inhaled her lovely scent but forced himself to calm down a bit. He must act coolly. "Oh, he's always like that. I don't know what his problem is, but I've learnt to live with it. You didn't answer my question, by the way." He reminded her, changing the subject.

"Oh, right, you asked me why I moved here. My parents are kind of obsessed with creatures from fantasies, such as ghosts, gremlins, unicorns, witches, creatures such as those." Kelly informed him, rolling her eyes to show that she thought it was just stupid.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. My parents are the number one ghost hunters in this town." Danny muttered this last sentence sarcastically.

"Are they actually any good at it?" Kelly asked with a strange note in her voice.

Danny shrugged off the feeling that Kelly was a bit scared of the answer and turned back to face the board, deciding that he had better do some work. "Nope, my dad's useless and he drags my mom down."

He wasn't sure if he was imagining things, but he was sure that he'd heard a sigh of relief from Kelly Stager. It seemed quite suspicious but he didn't focus too much energy on the thought before dismissing it. It was just his body reacting to the shock of finding someone who was so perfect, so like him in so many ways, apart from her being perfect and him being completely hopeless.

"Daniel Fenton, may I ask where your homework assignment is? And why, indeed, you were late for class?" Lancer demanded.

Danny groaned – it was only the start of a long day, one that was likely to be filled with at least two ghost attacks. Surely his parents would be getting suspicious by now.

* * *

**I've decided to put in the lovely outtakes for each chapter. I wrote this one when I had thriller in my head, but decided it wouldn't fit in with the plot.**

**Outtake for Chapter 1: (After Lancer says "Ah, I see I have a new student")  
**

**"Coz this is thriller, thriller night!" Danny cried out uncharacteristically, breaking into song. He jumped onto his desk and behind him the other students did the same. Soon, everyone was a mini Michael Jackson, dancing in front of a horrified Mr Lancer. But even more horrifying was the fact that he only wore underpants that were covered in pink ballerinas twirling around and around.  
**

**"Hi, I'm Ke…" the new girl starts to introduce herself as she walks in the door, but stops as she realises that something strange indeed is happening inside the classroom. For the students have now all been transformed into crazy ghouls!  
**

**"There aint no second chance against the thing with forty eyes," Danny cries loudly above the rest of them.  
**

**"Oh, my…"**


	3. The Discovery of a Lunchtime!

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Two**

**The Discovery of a Lunchtime!**

* * *

"Great, stupid school budget." Danny grumbled as he glanced at the few choices of food that he had for lunch. "Next time I'd rather bring a bagged lunch."

Nevertheless, Danny scooped some "Lean Meat Casserole" onto his plate, despite the fact that it probably had only 1 percent meat in it. On the side he placed a few slices of wholegrain bread that was at least a week old and a few small sachets of butter. He glanced towards the multi-coloured juice boxes on his left and the blue water bottles on his right, before picking up a mulberry juice.

"I mean, come on, who drinks _mulberry_ juice?" Danny muttered to himself as he handed some money to the lunch lady.

"Oh, young man, you've earned yourself a free dessert! You've spent over 100 in this cafeteria. Don't forget to redeem it with this voucher." The lunch lady informed him mock cheerily. She held out her hand to him, and in it was a grubby paper ticket that read 'Free Dessert'.

"Uh, thanks." Danny thanked her absently as he accepted the ticket and pushed it into his back pocket. "I appreciate it."

"Next!"

Danny glanced to the table where he and his two best friends usually sat and sighed in relief when he saw that they were both already there. He didn't enjoy sitting there on his own, waiting for them to finish gathering their own lunches. Especially since Dash sat not too far away, and he tended to pick on Danny whenever he could. With Tucker and Sam to stand up for him, even just a little bit, it wasn't as worse.

"Pretty pathetic lunches, don't you reckon?" Tucker asked as Danny took a seat across from him and Sam.

"Tell me about it." Danny sighed with a roll of his eyes to emphasise his agreement.

"I don't get what you guys complain about." Sam objected as she picked up her veggie burger and took a satisfying bite out of the end.

"Yeah, especially since they changed most of the meals to _vegetarian_ ones and all we meat-eaters can get is this brown _slop_." Tucker argued with his gothic friend, a slight frown on his face.

Sam narrowed her eyes at Tucker, ready to take up her side in the argument. Danny rolled his eyes once again and stared half-heartedly towards his pitiful lunch. Was it even worth eating? Danny shrugged his shoulders as he pondered this question. The food would give him more energy to survive science and the dreaded society and environment classes that he had in the afternoon. It was the only thing that kept him going during those boring afternoons.

Danny tore open one of the butter sachets and picked up a plastic knife to spread the butter onto his bread. When that was done, Danny pocketed the other sachet of butter and then unceremoniously dumped the slop of meat onto the bread, before picking it up and eating it like a sandwich. He shuddered at the taste of the food but continued to eat it – he needed his strength.

A patch of fiery red caught Danny's attention and he placed his sandwich back on the tray with his juice. He turned his head and found himself staring into the deep emerald green eyes of the new girl, Kelly Stager. She smiled shyly in recognition and he nodded his head, his insides burning fiery hot. Surely it wasn't normal for someone to respond this way after only knowing someone for a maximum of two hours?

He glanced away nervously as she began to walk towards the cafeteria line. He would not be caught staring at her like a fool. Instead, he would continue to eat and drink his horrid lunch and pretend that he felt nothing unusual towards the girl. His hormones were on overdrive, and it was best not to pay them any attention at all.

"So, what do you guys think of that new girl, Kelly Stager?" Tucker asked with raised eyebrows and a wink, before receiving a punch from Sam.

"Bug off, geek boy. She's not your type." Sam growled at him, surprising both Danny and Tucker.

"No, she's not…" Danny agreed absently as he took another mouthful of his sandwich, finding his eyes sliding back to Kelly's slight figure.

"Poor Sam, to be hearing words such as this." Tucker said mock sympathetically, receiving another punch from Sam.

"What's that mean?" Danny and Sam asked in unison, before sharing a knowing look.

"It means," Tucker replied slowly, putting his own lunch back on the tray and crossing his arms. As he looked into Danny's eyes, he continued. "That our good old friend Danny has a 'crush' on the new girl."

This received a curious look from Sam. "No, I don't, thank you very much." Danny denied, trying to push all thoughts of Kelly from his mind.

"Sure, sure." Tucker agreed sarcastically. "Look, are you going to drink your mulberry juice? I'm mighty thirsty."

"Get your beady eyes off of Danny's drink." Sam told Tucker before flicking him behind the ear.

Danny smiled absently as he opened the small carton that held his juice and put a small plastic straw through the hole in the top. He took a sip and choked. The mulberry juice was sour, sourer than usual – it was out of date.

"Stupid school budget." Danny cursed between coughs.

"You okay?" a fourth voice came into the conversation, causing the three friends to look up in wonder.

"Oh, hey Kelly. I didn't see you there." Danny said conversationally. "I'm fine, just had a bit of a shock when I realised that the juice was sour."

"Oh, that's terrible. They really shouldn't be feeding us this stuff. I really don't think I'm going to eat any of it. It looks so unappetizing." Kelly complained as she placed her tray on the table next to Danny. "You guys don't mind me sitting here, do you?"

"Nah, nah, its fine." Tucker informed her kindly. "Oh, and if you really don't think you'll finish it, I'll eat it for you."

Sam glared at Tucker and whacked him on the back of the head. "That was a bit rude, don't you think?" She growled between clenched teeth. "Stop thinking about your damn stomach."

Kelly looked towards Danny with a look of concern on his face, but he just shrugged and smiled at her, to say that this was normal and that there was nothing to be concerned about. With that Kelly relaxed and began to pick at her lunch, ignoring the fight that Sam and Tucker were in the middle of. Danny put down his juice and sighed inwardly, feeling his stomach grow warm at the sight of Kelly, before shaking his head to put the thoughts out of his mind. Yet even as he did this, he found himself staring at Kelly from the corner of his eye.

"You okay, Kelly? You're shivering." Sam asked with a hint of concern creeping into her voice.

"It's nothing – I'm fine." Kelly replied between clenched teeth, trying to hide the signs of her shivering. "Look, I don't think my stomach really agreed with that food they're serving us."

"You okay?" Danny asked her as he turned to her, ignoring that fact that he was feeling quite cold as well.  
"Yeah, I'll be back in a minute."

Danny couldn't help but stare as Kelly walked briskly out of the cafeteria, her fiery red hair swishing around as she walked. She had left her lunch tray and her bag at the table so it was obvious that she would be returning.

"Yep, Danny's got a crush." Tucker sang, receiving a little smirk from Sam, who had always noticed Danny's 'odd' behaviour.

"Shut up," Danny told them grumpily. "It's not a crush…"

"It's lust?" Tucker asked.

"Shut up, Tucker." Danny growled. "It's nothing, nothing at all! Bug off, damn it."

"Someone's a bit moody today. Is it because you know you shouldn't but you want her?" Tucker suggested with a wink.

Danny slammed the juice box that was in his hand against the table, causing juice to squirt all over the place. Due to the loud noise that it had made, heads turned to stare at the three losers. Danny stomped away from the table before he could let his anger get the better of him. He wasn't sure why he was reacting such, yet it was as if his anger was uncontrollable.

As soon as he entered the passageway, Danny stopped and realised that he was still cold, and there was an icy shiver going up his spine. He opened his mouth and breathed slowly, closing his eyes at the same time. After a few seconds his eyes snapped open and he glanced around himself to see if there were any witnesses in the hall. For his ghost sense had been going off for a while, and that meant he'd have to go and fight whatever ghost that was trying to annoy him.

"Going ghost," Danny uttered beneath his breath as he closed his eyes and clenched his fists into tiny balls.

The transformation was short and sweet. It only took a few seconds, which was lucky for Danny, as soon after he'd transformed a certain Spanish female came through the gym doors into the passageway. If she had seen his transformation, all hell would break loose for certain. But unluckily, she was still in her 'obsessed with "Phantom"' stage.

"_Phantom!_" Paulina cried with joy.

"Uh, pay attention in school!" Danny instructed as he turned invisible and quickly retreated to the roof before he could be hassled any more.

The sun was hidden by clouds and the wind ruffled the trees. Danny closed his eyes to focus his other senses so that he could find the ghost that he'd been alerted of. He couldn't hear any sounds of fighting, couldn't smell a ghost (who could?) and couldn't taste one (obviously). So he'd have to concentrate and rely on his ghostly senses.  
_  
Ghost, ghost, ghost, ghost, ghost…_

I know there's a ghost! Danny thought angrily. _Where?_

Behind the Nasty Burger.

Danny turned visible once more and jumped into the air. He wobbled slightly but regained his balance after a few seconds. When that was down, he flew down to the ground and towards the Nasty burger, which wasn't very far from his school at all. It was harder for him to fly against the wind, but not impossible.  
It took him only a minute to get to the Nasty burger, and even less than that to get to the back. When there, he saw that his opponent was Klemper, and some strange girl ghost who he'd never seen before. With a shrug, Danny dropped to the ground and walked to Klemper and the girl ghost.

"Will you be my friend?"

Danny cringed as the ghost said this and pulled out his Fenton Thermos from the belt around his waist. The girl ghost seemed to back away from Klemper before firing a few energy beams at him. It was obvious that they weren't fighting on the same side. So who was this ghost? Friend or foe? Not lingering on those questions for very long, Danny opened the thermos up and sucked Klemper inside before he could hear more of the ghost's horrid voice.

The other ghost noticed Danny and raised her arms into a defensive position. "Who are you and what do you want?" She asked suspiciously.

"Whoa, settle down there. Shouldn't I be the one asking _you_ those questions?" Danny replied smugly.

"And why should that be, ghost?" the girl ghost asked defensively.

"Because, uh, let's see here… hmm…. Well, only that fact that this _is_ my town, and you're just another ghost intruder to me." Danny informed her.

"You can't claim this town, ghost. It's a place for humans only." The girl retorted.

"So why are you here, then?" Danny asked.

"I should be asking you the same question." She replied.

"Look, this really is getting nowhere. I just want to know your intentions." Danny said as he raised his palms to her to show that he didn't intend her any harm.

"And why should I tell them to you? What if I said I didn't have any intentions?" She questioned him.

"Then I wouldn't believe you. It doesn't matter."

"But who are you?" She asked confusedly.

"Me? I'm Danny Phantom, legendary hero of this town… or in other eyes, public enemy number one. It depends…" Danny laughed nervously.

"Danny Phantom, the ghost I'm always hearing about? The one that protects people and fights against his own kind – ghosts?" she asked in wonder.

"Yeah, that's me. Why? Who's asking?"

"Oh, only the rarest creature in the entire universe – a half ghost, the only one around, in fact." She replied proudly.

"Oh, you'd be surprised," Danny muttered beneath his breath before actually taking in her words. For a moment, he was quite shocked, then confused, and then shocked once more. Weren't he, Danni and Vlad the only half-ghosts ever around? Then he narrowed his eyes, wondering who the other half of this ghost could be. "What's your name?"

"Oh, my name? It's Kelly-Go-Boom."

"Strange…"

Kelly thought he was referring to her name, so she smiled and said, "I know."

Yet Danny was referring to an entirely different matter, and was thinking things through carefully. He wasn't going to put his assumptions into words yet, but he had suspicions about this ghost. She had olive green hair, fiery red eyes and pale skin. She looked quite like Kelly Stager, and they both seemed to share the same name. What's more, Kelly disappeared just after his ghost sense began going off, after Sam had noticed that she was shivering.

"Very strange indeed." Danny repeated, pondering his observations.  
**  
End of Chapter 2.**

* * *

**Outtakes for Chapter 2:**

**"Shut up, Tucker." Danny growled. "It's nothing, nothing at all! Bug off, damn it."******

"Someone's a bit moody today. Is it because your little hormones are making themselves known? Ooh, Danny's got the hots for her, and he doesn't want anyone to see! Is that why you're sitting so rigidly?" Tucker suggested with a wink.

Danny glanced down with a blush…


	4. Suspicions

**Hey guys! It's me! I know, you must be so shocked, you thought i was dead or something. :) Trust me, I felt the same way. But I am going to write and write. In fact, I'll write some more since silly steph (haha) just went offline and I'm going to give her a heart attack when she comes back online :) Sorry if there are any mistakes, I can't be bothered. And if there is any randomness... I was bored, and trailed off a few times :) OOhh**

**And on the subject of MARY SUE. No. I have to tell you. She may seem Mary Sue-ish, but trust me, KELLY IS NOT MARY SUE. Notice that you've only seen Danny's opinion of her so far. And look, trust me on this, if you're falling for someone most of the time you see their good parts first. And ignore the bad parts. But keep reading because as we go along, you see that she is less mary sue ish. Okay? Pointo acrossed? :) Anyway, yeah, I didn't want to make her a monster in this chapter, and you don't really hear how "amazingly perfect" she is in this chapter, so your opinion should remain the same. But NOT. A. Mary. Sue. Okay? Trust me. You'll see :)**

**But Anywhoe. Enough Chitter Patter. :)**

**Oops. I forgot to add those lines :D  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Three**

**Suspicions**

* * *

"Why do you keep repeating yourself?" The ghost girl asked curiously.

Danny glanced up, startled. He hadn't realised that he had spoken loud enough for anyone to hear, yet he should've realised that she'd be able to pick up on his words. After all she was, like him, a half ghost, and therefore they probably had all the same powers. He hadn't told anyone, but recently he had noticed that a few of his senses had improved while he was in his ghost form. The change in his senses wasn't too dramatic – just that he could hear whispered conversations from maybe ten metres away, while a human could barely hear them from one metre away. His sight had also improved, but not by very much.

"Oh, it's nothing. I'm just trying to remember something important," Danny lied unconvincingly. "But it doesn't really seem to be working, so I suppose I'll stop now." He ran his hand through his wild sparkling silver hair, avoiding Kelly's questioning gaze.

"You do know that you're really… umm, well, odd for a ghost." Kelly-Go-Boom commented shyly. She turned away from him as she said that, as though it had been a mistake and she was embarrassed about it. But after a few more seconds she gained the courage to face him once again, and Danny found that he couldn't avoid her fiery red eyes this time.

Danny laughed absently as he stared into the halfa's glowing crimson eyes. "Mm, well, it's who I am. Anyway, got to shoot – places I need to be, ghosts I need to attack, stuff like that. Nice meeting you, Kelly-Go-Boom,"

Danny jumped into the air and prepared to fly away when suddenly he heard Kelly call out to him from below, asking him to wait. He glanced down and saw, horrified, that she was holding his cell phone. If she so much as flipped it open, she'd see the wallpaper with Sam Manson, Tucker Foley and Danny Fenton all eating ice cream on it. That would be hard to explain.

"You dropped this," Kelly called as she began to walk towards the spot where he was floating.

"Uh, thanks," he muttered, watching her cautiously. She didn't look down at the ground that she was walking on as she continued towards him – that was her mistake. She didn't see the rock in her path, and Danny wasn't fast enough to warn her. In mere seconds she was lying with her face flat on the cold concrete roof of the building they had been standing on. Danny had to work hard to stifle a giggle, amused by her clumsiness. It seemed that she wasn't too experienced at the ghost stuff – when he had first become a halfa, he too had been clumsy.

"Ugh," Kelly-Go-Boom moaned as her ghost form shimmered slightly, meaning that if she didn't regain control of herself, she would soon revert to her human form, and Danny would once and for all know if she really was Kelly Stager. He wasn't quite sure if that was a good or bad thing yet.

"You okay?" He asked as he offered her his hand to help her up.

She closed her eyes for a moment, inhaled deeply and then exhaled. When she opened her eyes, her form was completely stable. It was both a relief and disappointment to Danny. He wasn't sure what he would do if he found out for certain that Kelly Stager was a halfa. Sure, it wasn't like he didn't harbor strange secrets, but he didn't know what her purpose was, or whether she was to be trusted. He needed more time to think this through.

Kelly accepted his offered hand and used it to pull herself up. "I'm fine, just a bit clumsy," she laughed nervously. "Well, I don't want to keep you from your, umm, ghost hunting or anything. Bye!"

"Later, Kelly,"

* * *

"Get him good?" Tucker asked as Danny returned to the cafeteria table that he had so rudely stormed away from only minutes before. Danny didn't quite understand how Tucker could've possibly known that there had been a ghost attack, but he didn't bother questioning his friend.

"Yeah, just the usual Klemper problems," Danny informed them as he glanced behind him. He wasn't surprised to see Kelly Stager heading their way. "Listen, guys, I need to talk to you about something later, okay?"

"Got ya," Sam whispered as she glanced meaningfully towards the approaching Kelly.

"Hey guys, sorry about that." Kelly apologised as she took the empty seat next to Danny.

Danny shifted slightly away from her, but then realised that he was overreacting. She couldn't possibly know who he was, and if she did, she was acting way too normal. "You feeling better?" Danny asked, playing along with her lie.

"Definitely," Kelly assured him.

"Danny!" Jazz hissed as she came sprinting towards the table of four, keeping her voice down so that no one else in the cafeteria would be able to hear what she was about to tell her brother and his friends. "Outside, in the hall, there's…"

She stopped in midsentence as she noticed that there was a new member sitting with the group. Her curious eyes met Danny's for a moment before she turned to the new member. In those few seconds she conveyed her urgent message to him using only her eyes – ghost in the hall.

"Oh, hi, I'm Jazz, Danny's older sister," Jazz introduced herself politely to Kelly as Danny hastily left the cafeteria once again. "And you are?"

"Nice to meet you, Jazz," Kelly smiled kindly. "I'm Kelly Stager, just moved here from Wisconsin. Is Danny okay? He just left here without even listening to what you had to say."

Jazz glanced in the direction that Danny had headed towards and was relieved to see that he had already reached the hall doors. She didn't pay any attention to the question that Kelly had just asked, her mind obviously on other things. Luckily Sam was paying attention.

"Oh, he does that to her a lot. He knows what she was going to tell him, anyway. There are no hard feelings or anything between the two," Sam informed Kelly.

* * *

Danny was relieved to see that the hall was empty, but just in case he glanced around cautiously before calling upon the power inside him that was his ghost self. He closed his eyes and uttered three unclear words. In only seconds the human teenager had been replaced by Danny Phantom, public enemy number one.

"Young Daniel, I was wondering where you'd gotten to."

"Plasmius," Danny spat distastefully.

"It is pleasant to see you once again," Vlad inclined his head in mock courtesy and landed with a thud on the ground.

"What do you want this time?" Danny asked with a hint of annoyance seeping into his voice.

"Oh, just the usual boring old request – for you to team up with me, make a fool out of your father, steal your mother, take over the world, stuff like that," Vlad suggested casually as he walked towards the ghost teenager.

"No."

Vlad pouted and placed his hands upon his hips. "Oh, come on, it'll be fun!" He said enthusiastically.

"Do you really think I'm that pathetic? I suggest that now's the time to get a cat." Danny asked scornfully.

"You will rue the day you turned down my offer!" Plasmius threatened evilly as he dove forward and placed his large hands around Danny's neck. "And why should I get a cat now? Today's the day I will have Maddie."

Before Danny could answer, he was interrupted by a female voice.

"Stop right there, ghost!"

Both Danny and Plasmius turned their heads at the sound of this new voice, though Danny knew who it was before he even saw her – Kelly-Go-Boom. So that meant that she either wasn't Kelly Stager, or had somehow escaped from the group without making Tucker, Jazz and Sam suspicious, which would've been a hard thing to do. Those three were always suspicious of something. Danny shook his head and decided to focus on the fight, and think about Kelly some time later tonight. Just because she may not be like other girls didn't mean that he had to act different around her until he discovered the truth.

"Who do you think you are, speaking to me, Vlad Plasmius, like that?" Vlad growled, quite obviously insulted by Kelly's behaviour.

"I don't think I know who I am, I know that I am the person I think that I know I am, so therefore I think that I am no one and know that I am someone. Who do you think you know I think I know I am?" Kelly retorted.

"What?"

Danny and Vlad both glared at each other because they had both voiced the same word in a clueless tone, as well as in unison. Kelly just looked from one to the other with a wicked glint in her fiery red eyes. She grinned as she realised that the two shared a hatred for each other, a hatred that ran deep. It was obvious that this feud had been going on for a very long time.

"Nice to make your acquaintance." Kelly grinned wider as she stuck her hand towards Vlad as though she wanted him to shake it.

Vlad was confused. He glanced at Danny, trying to figure out if it was a trap set by the younger, less experienced half ghost. Danny shrugged – he too was confused. Whose side was Kelly on? If only he had the power to read minds, then he would be able to see what her intentions were. If they were bad, he'd stop her.

He smiled absently as he imagined what this new power would be like. He considered it a possibility that he might discover how to read minds. After all, he had learnt many things since the accident that had turned him into a half ghost. He wondered how mind reading would work, and how he'd control it. Would the thoughts of others just flow into his mind uncontrollably or would he have to focus on them?

Meanwhile, Vlad had cautiously grasped Kelly's hand, wary due to suspicions. But even though Vlad was an evil criminal half ghost, the human part of him was forever courteous. He could not refuse to shake hands with someone – it was bad manners – even if they were a mysterious ghost. It was one of his stupid, stupid faults.

Of course, Kelly took advantage of this situation. She frowned wickedly and Danny watched as her hand grew a fiery hot red colour. Vlad's eyes widened as he tried to pull away from the traitorous Kelly-Go-Boom but found that her grip was like iron. He gasped as he felt a searing hot pain before he was shot with a dark red ecto-ray. An extremely powerful dark red ecto-ray.

He crashed into the wall, bringing up clouds of dust. The flimsy school wall that he had been sent flying into cracked down the middle and collapsed pathetically. Danny smiled as he watched this happen.

Kelly cleared her throat as the dust cleared, and Vlad was revealed lying on the floor like a helpless kitten. "The name's Kelly," she declared proudly. "Kelly-Go-Boom. But it seems my Wisconsin vampire-like fiend that _you_ are the one going boom."

Danny raised an eyebrow – there had been no boom – as he watched Vlad's reaction. Vlad glared at the ghost girl and tried to stand up – when both he and Danny realised that there was a faint ticking sound in the background. Vlad glanced towards his wrist and groaned.

"Oh fudge buckets…." Vlad muttered to himself.

Before he could turn himself intangible, there was a loud explosion in the school. Danny blinked as he saw Vlad's ghost form shoot through many layers of walls and out of sight. There was another explosion in the distance, which Danny assumed was the thing that was on Vlad's wrist. Vlad had just exploded.

"And he's out," Kelly announced as she turned to Danny, smiling at him friendlily.

Danny chuckled.

**

* * *

I beat the 2,000 word limit Steph, aren't you ever so proud?  
And no I don't want to do outtakes. Lame lame lame! :) Goodnight My Fellow Fellows,**

**Kirstyn And Her VampireElf. :)  
**


	5. Getting To Know Each Other

**Yay, it is another chapter! Go me! And another update on the Mary Sue Issue. She's still not a Mary Sue. Danny's Point of View, and I did this on purpose. Stick with me for this one, okay? I'd make my chapters longer but 5 pages and 2,000+ words is doing me well. It's really hard because I'm remaking it and the original was so bad and I've changed a few things so I've got to figure it out again and Ugh. So. I wonder how long this story is now. Maybe 20+ pages. That's not very much. I'm going to get as much of it done as possible while I'm still in the mood to write Danny Phantom fanfiction. I really want to watch the Ultimate Enemy again :) I also want to rewrite Crimson Red Nightmare, I cannot believe i wrote a story like that about rape. I am so ashamed.**

**But anyway, read on my fellow fellows! And don't kill me for the title of the chapter. It was 2am and I'd just drunk three cups of coffee.  
**

* * *

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Four**

**Getting To Know Each Other… Raise Eyebrows!**

* * *

Before Danny could thank Kelly-Go-Boom, he was interrupted by the loud ringing of the bell that indicated that classes were about to start up once again. That signalled a dreaded subject – physical education, otherwise known as the torture session. Danny groaned as he turned invisible and flew for the guy's toilets, not even bothering to see what Kelly-Go-Boom was doing.

"Cut it a bit close there," Tucker commented as Danny opened the toilet stall door.

Danny jumped as he heard his best friend's voice. "Tuck? How'd you know it was me?"

"Oh, there was a flash of pure white light, so angelic, and I knew that it could only be the one my heart beats for," Tucker exclaimed mock-dreamily.

"Buzz off Tuck," Danny growled, not in the mood for his friend's lame humour. "I'm not in a good mood. I want to talk to you tonight, you and Sam. And Jazz, maybe. I'll call you about it this afternoon, arrange our daily ghost hunt, etcetera etcetera."

"Fine. Have fun in PE. Oh, and Jazz said she wanted to talk to you before she got home. That's why she came to the high school in the first place."

Danny thanked him as he left the boy's toilets. He glanced behind him and gave his friend a thumbs up as he walked out into the corridor and due to his lack of attentiveness, he found that he walked right into a poor, helpless someone. He accidentally bit down on his tongue as he knocked the person to the ground.

"Oh my god, I am so sorry," Danny cried as he turned to look at his victim. "I wasn't watching where I was going. I am such a klutz."

"That's makes two of us," Kelly laughed as she picked herself up and brushed the dirt off of her gym uniform. "Really, though, it was my fault. I was thinking about something." She apologised.

"Really? This is such a miraculous moment! Care to share what you were thinking about, since this is a once in a chance lifetime and all? It'll never happen again, you know." Danny was inwardly cursing himself for his lame comeback and just smiled foolishly at her.

She giggled as she walked in the direction of the gym. Danny tagged along behind her like an obedient puppy. "You're lame," she told him lightly. "But it's funny."

"Yeah, I've been told that quite a bit," Danny admitted. "But never the funny part,"

"Oh but it's true!"

Danny grinned before pushing open the large, unfriendly gym doors that he loathed ever so much. "So, you got gym with Mr Herwinkle?"

"Yeah, strange name." Kelly commented.

Danny's stomach flipped as he realised that Kelly was going to see him play sport. Not good news at all. Although Danny physical activity skills had improved greatly since he was changed into Danny Phantom, he couldn't let anyone in his class know how good at sport he truly was. If they knew, they might put two and two together and realise that Danny Fenton was also Danny Phantom.

_Why couldn't I have just called myself Phantom? It would've been a whole lot easier,_ Danny asked himself silently. Fenton and Phantom just sounded so similar; it was a surprise that people hadn't figured out his secret yet. It didn't help that he and Phantom had almost the same physical appearance – though Danny Phantom was dead so therefore looked a bit different - or that he was often spotted with Tucker and Sam, and even sometimes Jazz. It was the most obvious secret in the world, and barely anyone had figured it out yet.

"I hate sport," Kelly complained as they walked over to a group of people in their class.

"Me, too," Danny agreed.

* * *

Sam yanked at the toilet paper angrily and bit down softly on her lip. She felt unwelcome tears slide down her cheeks and furiously brushed them away with the back of her hand. She stifled a sob as she tore off a strip of white toilet paper and pressed it her to tear-filled eyes.

_Why am I crying?_ She asked herself hopelessly as she glanced down at the now soggy white toilet paper.

She knew that she shouldn't be skipping physical education and that Danny would notice her absence but she didn't care. Something had been bothering her lately, and she wasn't sure what it was. She didn't know how she could be crying over some problem not yet known to her.

Was it because she was jealous of Kelly? No, but she wasn't in love with Danny or anything, so why would she be jealous of Kelly? Because it _was_ pretty obvious that he had fallen for the new girl. Was she upset because the little group of three might break apart because of Danny getting a girlfriend? Well, she wasn't his girlfriend yet… but it was likely that it would happen.

"What about me and Tuck?" she asked herself in a whisper. "What happens when we find someone we like? What happens to the so called 'never ending friendship'?"

She sniffed as she looked down at her hands. Was this the cause of her moodiness? If it wasn't, then what was?

* * *

Maddie searched hopelessly through her son's clothes drawers – if she hadn't found anything suspicious in the rest of Danny's bedroom, then why would she find something in amongst his clothes? So far she'd found nothing to support her theory of Danny smoking, doing drugs or even drinking alcohol. She was relieved about this news but also quite worried – if he was not doing one of those three common teenage rebellious acts, then what was Danny doing that he had to hide from his own mother?

"Mum?"

Maddie jumped in shock as she turned around to face her oldest daughter, Jazz. Jazz was home from college on her study break for most of the week and had been staying in her old bedroom. "Yes sweetie?" Maddie answered innocently.

"What are you doing in Danny's room?" Jazz asked curiously as she leaned against the doorframe.

"Oh, uh," Maddie searched her head for an appropriate lie. "I just lost something, and I was looking for it…"

Jazz narrowed her eyes. "In Danny's clothes drawers?" She was now suspicious.

"You never know where these things could turn up," Maddie laughed, abandoning her search for suspicious materials as she walked over to her oldest child. Next time she would have to wait until Jazz was out of the house. It didn't matter if Jack was home or not, because he wouldn't notice anything other than his current experimentations.

"What's up, mum? Lately you haven't been… acting normally," Jazz queried.

"Oh, no, dear, it's nothing," Maddie assured her daughter with a smile.

"Sure," Jazz was being sarcastic. "You're worried about Danny, aren't you? Look, mum, he's old enough to take care of himself. He has to grow up sometime, and he has to do it without the help of his mother."

"I know, but," Maddie bit down hesitantly on her lip. "He's always coming home so injured, like he's been in a fight. And god, he's always skipping school and sneaking out. He's going down the wrong path, Jazz. I thought you of all people would see that and try to put a stop to it."

"Danny will be okay." Jazz patted her on the shoulder. "You'll see. They all go through these rebellious stages – the boys, I mean. Not us girls."

And with that, Jazz left her mother standing alone in the doorway of Danny's room. Maddie wasn't about to let the Danny issue go. Jazz had just confirmed Maddie's suspicions – something was going on that Danny didn't want her to know about, and Jazz was in on it. But why would her oldest daughter, the responsible one in the family, just watch as Danny hurt himself?

So what if it was just a phase? He might grow out of it, but he could get seriously hurt before that time. Even killed.

"I will get to the bottom of this," Maddie told herself before making her way down the stairs.

* * *

"Okay, girls and boys, pick your gym partners _now_!" Mr Herwinkle screamed.

Danny looked at Kelly out of the corner of his eye and smiled as she turned to face him. She leant in close to his ear – they weren't meant to talk when they chose their partners, the stupidest rule in the world – and whispered three words.

"You and me?"

Danny turned to face her and nodded. Her face lit up as she got his answer, causing Danny to sigh in admiration. She was perfect – this girl had no flaws. She stood up enthusiastically and offered Danny her hand.

The image of Kelly-Go-Boom offering Vlad Plasmius her hand entered Danny's mind but he pushed it away angrily. That thought was for pondering when he was alone at night, in his own bed. He needed privacy when he considered the possibility, because otherwise he'd get distracted.

Danny accepted Kelly's outstretched hand and she pulled him up. Shivers ran down his spine as his hand made contact with hers. It was so soft and smooth and he was sure that if he smelt it, it would smell wonderful too. As soon as he got to his feet he reluctantly pulled his hand from hers, blood rushing to his cheeks.

"Fenton and Stager!" Mr Herwinkle called out to the two. "I want you to go off to the corner of the gym and help each other with push ups. One times, the other does 'em." He threw a stopwatch at Danny, which he caught.

Danny's stomach fluttered as he realised that he and Kelly would be alone, in the corner of a dark gym. He liked the idea of getting closer to her but he was quite nervous about it. What if he made a fool out of himself? Oh and he'd have to pretend to be terrible at push ups, even though he'd begunto work out and do one hundred push ups every day to help him in his ghost fighting.

"So, you any good at push ups?" Kelly asked as they headed to the corner of the gym that Mr Herwinkle had indicated.

Danny smiled at her. "Nope, I suck." He lied.

"Same here," she laughed nervously. "The only I can push up is a Nasty burger…" she paused and grinned at him. "To my mouth!"

Danny smiled at the sad attempt at a joke. "That was um. Lame?" He laughed.

"Yeah, I get that a lot." Kelly admitted.

"Speaking of the Nasty Burger," Danny began, working up the courage to ask her on a semi-date. "Would you like to go to grab something to eat there after school?"

"Sure! I haven't been anywhere around Amity Park yet – me and the family only just moved here yesterday afternoon. But we can't be too long because I've got heaps and heaps of unpacking to do."

_She said yes. She said YES! _Danny screamed in his head. "That's okay. So who's going first, you or me?"

"I'll go," Kelly offered. "So, are you and Sam and Tucker like, best friends?"

"Yeah, we've been friends for years." Danny smiled as he remembered the time when he had first met Sam and Tucker.

"That's cool," Kelly told him with a smile as she began her push-ups. She did them quite slowly and looked as though it took a lot of effort to do only one, even though she was able to talk as she did so. "I had to leave my friends behind, but its okay because I can still talk to them."

"You must have had heaps of friends, what with you being perfe-" Danny cut off, blushing wildly. "I mean, with you being a really nice person and all. You seem like the sort of person that everyone likes."

"Mm, a few people thought I was a bit weird," Kelly admitted. "But I didn't care. I had a few good friends, and that's all I wanted."

"Yeah, I agree with you there," he glanced at the stopwatch. She had two more minutes to go.

"So, Danny," Kelly was looking at the ground – she was avoiding his gaze. "Do you have a girlfriend?"

Danny chuckled as he watched her blush nervously. _Could it be possible? Could someone such as her have feelings for such a loser like me? Oh please, make it true. _"Nah," he told her, still smiling. "What about you?"

"Nope," Kelly finally met his gaze and stared into his blue eyes sincerely. "Why don't you have a girlfriend? You're just so, amaz-" She cut herself off, the blush returning to her cheeks.

Danny's heart pounded in his chest and his stomach flipped over a few times, threatening to bring up the little amount of cafeteria food that he had consumed. Had she just been about to tell him that he was _amazing_?

_How can I like someone so much after just meeting them?_ He asked himself. _Could it possibly be love at first sight? I've never felt this way before, and especially not so suddenly._

Kelly was about to stutter out something else when Mr Herwinkle called out, "Change!"

Danny handed the stopwatch to Kelly without a word and got onto the ground, preparing to begin his push ups.

* * *

**Aww, and do you know what the sad thing is? He didn't even notice that Sam wasn't there! Ah well. Hmm. I wonder why Sam is so moody. Why did I do that? Oh dammit I can't remember. I'll have to re-read the original and see if it's something from the original or if I just decided to make her moody.**

**Peace out My Hoppers!  
**


	6. A Nasty Surprise!

**Let's all scream with joy for it is yet ANOTHER chapter in such a short amount of time! Just think, it took me about 4 months to get three chapters up, and I got three more up in less than a day :D I'm so proud, haha. I'm jetting through it. I love coffee. Yum. Coffee coffee coffeee I want some coffee. Oh my god Steph, I just came up with the best idea for a fanfic for you! Oh my god you have to write it and it has to be amazing and it has to be emotional and action-packed and heartfelt and just amazing. And with stormy weather and someone crying, out in the middle of the street, huddling against a soaked box and a cold brick wall, crying. And their tears will mix with the rain. But anyway, ask me about it!!**

**And the chapter title is amazing. Nasty surprise, as in Nasty from the Nasty Burger :D I'm a genius, haha. Anyway, I have to settle down now :) And enjoysees. I haven't edited this chapter, too lazy. Ignore the hundred and twenty two mistakes. Ta.**

**

* * *

  
**

**The Beginning**

**Chapter Five**

**A Nasty Surprise!**

* * *

"So this is like, the teen hang out?" Kelly asked as she and Danny sat down in a private booth in the corner of the Nasty Burger. She had a small box of fries in front of her, making Danny feel like a pig – he had a triple cheeseburger, a large box of fries, and a large soda in front of him. He was hungry, after all, and a growing ghost boy.

"Yeah. Everyone comes here," Danny told her in between mouthfuls of cheeseburger. "It's not really for the food – it's not amazing food – but mainly to socialize, I suppose. Only teen hang out that we have,"

"Listen Danny, thanks for being so kind to me," Kelly thanked him shyly. "It's my first day and all, and you just took me under your wing and it was just so nice. I was really scared that I'd make no friends but now that fear is gone. I can tell we're going to be great friends."

"Me, too," Danny breathed.

Kelly smiled at him and began to nervously ask him a question. "So, Danny, I was just wondering, I know it's really sudden and all but -"

She was cut off by a loud explosion that came from outside the Nasty Burger. "What was that?" Danny cried, seemingly oblivious.

Kelly looked around her with narrowed eyes before jumping up from her seat. Danny glanced at her arms as his ghost sense was triggered and saw that they were covered in goose bumps – suspicious. He wasn't about to wait for tonight to consider the similarities between Kelly Stager and Kelly-Go-Boom – heck, they even had the same name. Well, kind of. But instead, he would follow her discreetly and use his ghost powers to discover the truth.

Kelly looked to see what Danny was doing. He watched as her expression went from one of determination to one of hesitation. She wasn't sure how to get rid of Danny without hurting his feelings. Danny knew how she felt – he had had to do it with many people he had cared about in the past. "We should go," she told him.

There was another explosion and one wall of the building came crumbling down. Danny ran behind her until they were almost at the door and he realised that somehow he would have to lose her if he were to turn invisible and discover the truth about her. He would have to trip over and risk getting hurt by teenaged boots as others trampled him to get out of the door.

"Ah," he cried as he fell down, but luckily Kelly didn't hear his cry and didn't turn around. She just assumed that he was still there behind here. Danny moaned as people walked over him and he slowly crawled towards a wall, out of the path of boots. Soon, everyone had gone through the door and Danny turned invisible.

Luckily, he was just in time. Kelly poked her head through the front doors and called out his name cautiously.

"I guess he just disappeared," she muttered to herself with a shrug as she stepped inside the now abandoned hangout. She glanced around as if to make sure that it was really abandoned and then closed her emerald green eyes.

Though Danny had expected it, he was still surprised when the fiery red ring appeared around Kelly Stager's waist. _So this is what it's like when Sam and Tuck watch me transform,_ his mind whispered. He felt as though he was intruding on Kelly's privacy as he watched her transform but he couldn't look away.

Though he had decided he would stay quiet throughout the whole transformation, he couldn't help but let an audible gasp escape from his lips once Kelly had finished transforming into the new half ghost in town – Kelly-Go-Boom.

Unfortunately, the ghost girl was able to hear his gasp and turned towards the spot where he was crouched by the floor, invisible. "Who's there?" She growled. "Show yourself, ghost!"

Danny used his powers to sink through the wall and into what appeared to be the female toilets. "Ah well," he muttered to himself as he turned visible once again. "It'll have to do. Going ghost!"

The same glowing rings that he had seen around Kelly's body appeared around his –except his were lighter – and transformed him into Danny Phantom. He ran his gloved hand through his silver hair before turning intangible and flying up to the roof to where he assumed that the ghost would be. It couldn't have been a very powerful ghost otherwise it would have blown up the entire Nasty Burger by this time.

And surely enough, when he got onto the roof, he saw that it was only the ghost bounty hunter – Skulker. He smirked and returned to visibility. "Skulker, what are you doing here? Skulking?" The ghost hunter spun around to face his enemy. "Ember leave you, did she?"

Skulker glared at the ghost boy distastefully. "It is you, the one whose pelt I shall have adorning my wall very soon."

"Dream on," Danny retorted. "I don't do walls. They make me look awfully fat,"

"Oh, continue with your smart remarks for now, but you will see. I will destroy you, ghost child." Skulker assured him.

"You'll have to get through me first,"

Danny knew who the voice belonged to before even turning around. Kelly-Go-Boom.

"And who do you think you are, whelp?" Skulker demanded, firing up an ecto-gun that was attacked to his battle suit.

"Me? Oh, well, I'm afraid I can't tell you that. It may cause a boom." Kelly winked at Danny.

Danny smiled slightly – Kelly-Go-Boom was definitely Kelly Stager. He sobered up as he thought about it. It was troubling him, despite the fact that he himself was half ghost. He was being discriminative towards Kelly, and it wasn't fair.

Danny shook his head to rid it of all thoughts of Kelly. He would think about that later. But for now his primary focus was getting Skulker into his Fenton Thermos before any more damage could be done to the town. It was a surprise that they were able to afford to repair the damage caused by reckless ghosts.

Kelly tried to fire an ecto-ray at Skulker but he threw up an ecto-shield before the ray even came close to him.

"Upgraded your suit, Skulker?" Danny asked absently as he tried to figure out a plan to capture this annoying ghost.

"Of course. Who do you think I am, a ghost who would walk around with inferior battle equipment? I have only the best." Skulker boasted. "And whelp, what do you call yourself? I may wish to put you upon my toilet seat, if you are lucky."

"I'm sorry, whatever your name is, but I'm pretty sure that's gross. The names Kelly. Kelly-Go-Boom. And you can't call me KGB. Only friends can call me that."

"He's Skulker," Danny supplied as he pulled out his Fenton Thermos, examining it as though he was not paying any attention at all to Skulker.

"Foolishness," Skulker commented as he aimed a gun at Danny's head. "You should always focus on your enemy in a fight, despite what it appears he may or may not be doing. I'm surprised you're still alive, half breed."

"Same with you," Danny smiled at the ghost. "I'm also afraid that I forgot to give my mother back her vacuum cleaner. Such a shame."

Kelly raised an eyebrow at this – she was clearly confused and hadn't heard of the Fenton's vacuum cleaner. Danny grinned at Skulker and whipped out a small pen. It was only a disguise. He pressed a button on the pen and it grew in size and changed its form so that it looked like a vacuum cleaner.

"Kudos Skulker," Danny smiled as he pressed the on button. The new and improved Fenton Vacuum cleaner only sucked up ghost technology, so it instantly honed in on Skulker's suit and ripped it right off of his midget green body.

He looked so pathetic as a blob that Danny couldn't help but laugh. "Into the Thermos you go," Danny muttered as he sucked the screaming ghost into his Fenton Thermos.

"You have got to be kidding me," Kelly exclaimed.

"What?" Danny asked, horrified that maybe Kelly had discovered that he was carrying around a _Fenton_ Thermos.

"He was a blob."

Danny grinned. "A crazy blob."

"But nevertheless, he was a blob." Kelly concluded with a giggle. "You're pretty good at this,"

"So are you," Danny complimented her.

"Danny Phantom!"

Danny looked down as he heard someone call his name from the ground. It didn't have a hollow echo to it so he knew at once that it wasn't a ghost calling his name. Instead, he saw two small figures below him.

He sunk to the ground to see why they were calling him. Once he was standing on the flat ground he noticed that they were almost as tall as he was, and could only be a few years younger than him at the most. Both of them were female. "Yes?" he answered.

"I'm Keira," the taller of the two introduced herself. She had hazy brown eyes and muddy brown hair that was tied back into a bun. "And this is my friend Fiona," she gestured to the short friend, who had jet black hair and brown eyes. "Pleased to make your acquaintance,"

Danny shook Keira's extended hand and glanced at Kelly who was sharing his expression of bewilderment. "Um, hello. Listen, kids, I'm really –"

"Danny Phantom," Fiona interrupted. It was then that Danny noticed that Fiona was holding a video camera in her hands while Keira was clutching a microphone. "Keira and I have recently begun producing a show featuring ghosts and we were wondering if you would care to be our highlight for this week's episode."

Danny raised his eyebrows. "What?"

"We'd just like you to answer a few questions. If you find that they are too personal, just tell us. Agreed?" Keira told him.

"Um," Danny met Kelly's bright red eyes and smiled. "Okay,"

It was then that the two turned to Kelly. "If we may be so rude as to ask, who the hell are you, ghost?" Fiona demanded.

Kelly looked taken aback as Fiona spoke rudely to her. "Why, I am none other than Kelly-Go-Boom, the ghost of Wisconsin."

"I suppose she can be on the show if she must," Keira muttered. "We're live in 20."

Danny shrugged his shoulders at Kelly while Fiona set up the camera and Keira came to stand in between the two ghost teens.

"And we're live," Fiona muttered as a red light came onto the video camera.

"Hello, and welcome to this week's issue of _Ghosts Uncracked_. My name's Keira and I'll be your host for tonight," She smiled warmly at the camera. "Today I am here, interviewing the legendary, the deadly, the infamous _Danny Phantom_!" She cried.

Danny nudged her slightly so as to remind her of Kelly's presence. Despite his mixed feelings for the halfa, he couldn't just watch as she was treated like unwanted cheese.

"Oh and Kelly-Go-Boom," Keira muttered angrily. "It was only minutes ago that Fiona and I witnessed a new ghost attack on the poor old Nasty Burger. One of the walls collapsed down due to the excessive pressure that the ghost put on it. Teenagers ran screaming out of this local hangout as one brave ghost flew up to the rescue. Ouch, I mean two." Danny had elbowed her once again.

"It seemed it was a well-known ghost, named Skulker, attacking this innocent building. But Danny Phantom used a weapon to rid the ghost of its armour and reveal it for what it truly was – a small, insignificant ghost. Now, Danny Phantom, can you please tell me what the weapon you used to suck up the armour is called and what it does?"

Danny hesitated before clearing his voice and grinning. "It was a vacuum cleaner. It sucks up anything in its path." It wasn't a lie – just not the entire truth.

"Okay then…" Keira shared a look with Fiona. "So Danny Phantom, you are known as an evil ghost who enjoys reaping havoc on this peaceful town. Have you anything to say on this?"

Danny frowned. "I am not evil. I do not reap havoc on this town. I fight the ghosts who do." He decided to keep his answers short and simple – he wasn't even sure why he was still doing this in the first place.

"If you are a ghost," Keira began. "Why do you fight others of your kind?"

"Why do humans fight each other?" Danny retorted.

Before Keira could reply, Danny's cell phone began to rang. "Danny Phantom, why do you have a cell phone?"

"Excuse me," Danny muttered, walking away from the camera and checking the caller ID. It was someone calling from his house. He flipped the phone open and answered, hoping that the caller would not notice the slight echo to his voice.

"Danny! It's me!"

It was his father. "Hi, Dad, look I can't talk right now…"

"Where are you?" his father interrogated him.

"Um," Danny paused. "At a friend's house."

"Who?"

Danny hesitated, hoping that he wouldn't be caught up in the lie. "Uh, Tucker's?"

"Whatever. Are you watching TV?" Jack boomed.

"Um, no, why?" Danny hoped that his father wasn't watching the 'interview with Danny Phantom'.

"Some girls are interviewing Danny Phantom! It's completely bogus, and an outrage! He is claiming to not be evil! And there was footage of the fight between him and another ghost, and Danny Phantom had a Fenton Vacuumer and a Fenton Thermos! I should charge him with theft, evil ghost."

"Uh," Danny croaked nervously. "Dad, listen, I have to go." Danny hung up on his father before Jack could reply.

Danny flew back to where Keira was reluctantly asking Kelly some questions. "Okay, I have to go, bye!" He announced before turning invisible and flying off, not waiting for a response.

* * *

When Danny was quite a distance away he flew behind an empty building and transformed back into Danny Fenton. He checked his mobile and saw that he had five missed calls as well as a message from his sister saying 'where r u? u 4got. its important dan.'

"Damn, I forgot that Jazz wanted to talk to me," Danny cursed himself. "I better not forget to call Kelly tonight and apologise for running off on her, otherwise she may get worried or even suspicious. But for now…"

Danny dialled two numbers and put the phone to his ear. The people on the other end picked up after the third ring. "Sam, Tucker," Danny spoke into the mouthpiece. "I have something to tell you about Kelly."

* * *

**Dun Dun Dun! See Steph, I told you I'd end it like this :) And guess what? It's longer than usual! Now, I'm wanting to watch Danny Phantom. But. I think I'll write a little bit more before, otherwise I will never get back into the mood of writing. I have to work tomorrow, so i doubt i'll get much done then. And then I have to work the day after. But I will get this done. I will I will I will. Wow it's 4. I've been writing since.. 11. On and off. :) I've been doing many other things as well. Yum. I love tea. Tea tea tea.**

**Well, I'm going to try to encourage you to read and review. If people do, it will encourage me to not be so lazy and to write faster and better because I am being slack at the moment.**

**YAY! It's CHOCOLATE TIME**

Kirstyn And Her VampireElf Dots :D  



	7. Strange Behavior is in the Air

**Howdy my fellow Pecan Pies! I'm afraid I won't be able to write many more chapters today, maybe only one. I must work. I would've had this chapter up late last night but I died. And Silly Silly Steph, why are you not online? It's so sad. I think I might cry. But I am going to prove that I will keep at this. I replotted the story :) It's going to turn out good, and it's better. And I really really want to kill Fiona and Keira. That would be nice. But I don't know if they're important, but I'm changing it, and ah the original was so terrible I started crying. Haha. But either way. I will do this. I will, I will, I will. And Silly Steph when you come back online I am going to have so much for you to read that you're going to die. :) It shall be fun... Sort of.**

**And here we are. I am pretty sure it's chapter six...  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Six**

**Strange Behaviour is In the Air  
**

* * *

"Kelly Stager is _half ghost!?_" Tucker exclaimed.

For some reason Sam hadn't shown and neither had Jazz, even though Danny had left her a few voice messages _and_ about ten text messages. Sam had assured Danny that she would meet him in the park as soon as possible but he and Tucker had already waited for ten minutes.

"I thought you and Vlad were the only ones…" Tucker muttered.

"So did I," Danny assured his friend. "Until I saw Kelly transform. But the thing is that she doesn't know that I saw her change into Kelly-Go-Boom."

Tucker let out a snort at this. "So what's the problem, apart from the fact that she's half ghost?"

Danny rolled his eyes infuriatingly at his best friend. "I don't know if I should let on that I know her secret and tell her about myself or just pretend we're all normal people!"

"Well… I'm out of here. This is so not my specialty. Talk to Sam or something." Tucker told his friend before hesitating. "Speaking of Sam… I haven't seen her since lunch, and she's been awfully… strange lately. More so than usual. Do you know what's up with her?"

"Not at all," Danny too was concerned about his Gothic friend. "She's normally totally into the whole ghost stuff. And the Sam I know wouldn't pass up the chance to hear some gossip about the new girl."

"The new girl that Danny has a crush on," Tucker sang, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

Danny blushed. "Give me a break, Tuck," he told his friend absently.

"So what's her best feature?" Tucker asked with a smile.

"She doesn't have one."

Tucker gasped. "So cruel, so cold hearted, so… in denial!"

Danny laughed at his friend. "Oh but all her features are her best," Danny admitted. "I don't know, it's weird. I've seriously never felt like this."

"Not about anyone?" Tucker asked. He received a shake of the head so Tucker pushed it further, whispering, "Not even with Sam?"

"Sam is my best friend. Nothing more. Kelly? Oh god, I can't get her out of my head." Danny moaned as he pictured her smiling face.

"You know what that say," Tucker began with a smirk. "Like attracts like."

"Shut up Tucker," Danny muttered. "But anyway, I'm going to go check if Sam's home. See if she's okay, and all. I'll see you tonight for our patrol, at say… 11:15? Mum notices if I sneak out too soon after curfew. I don't know, she must check my room or something. Bye Tuck,"

Danny focused on his surroundings as he began to walk away from his African-American friend. Using his excellent night vision – courtesy of his other half, Danny Phantom – he made sure that was no one else in the small park that might catch a glimpse of his transformation. It was as he had guessed – all clear.

In merely seconds he was in the air, his silver hair blowing with the wind. It was getting colder at nights, meaning that Danny would have to start patrolling town by himself. Luckily he didn't need too much sleep – he spent only five hours sleeping each night. After a year of doing so every single night, Danny had gotten used to the terrible hours. Sometimes he got even less sleep.

The cold didn't bother him much either. Even when he had been completely human, he hadn't been bothered by the cold. Some people thought it was freakishly weird, but it was normal for Danny. Well, as normal as things got for such a kid. The cold air soothed Danny.

He could see Sam's large mansion in the distance. He remembered the first time that he had been to her house – they had been friends for a few years but he hadn't been to her house before until last year. It was quite pathetic, he knew that. He actually didn't know that Sam's family was rich. But she didn't hold it against him.

"Sam," He whispered to himself as he fly to her window and gave a slow, delicate tap, followed by another, and another – all perfectly timed. He made sure he was invisible just in case Sam had others in her bedroom and waited for a few moments.

The curtains were parted by a concerned, anxious Mrs Manson, Sam's mother. Danny peeked around her and noticed that Sam wasn't in the bedroom. If her mother were in her bedroom, worried about something, then something must have happened to Sam. And there was only one way that he could find out exactly what it was.

Danny sunk to the ground and reverted to his human form. He whipped his silver cell phone of out the back pockets of his blue denim jeans. He dialled Sam's home number and waited for her mother to answer it.

"Hello, this is Mrs Manson speaking," she said right on cue.

"Hi Mrs Manson, this is Danny speaking. Danny Fenton. I was wondering if I could speak to Sam," Danny enquired as he stared up at his best friends bedroom window.

"I'm sorry Mr Fenton," His mother whispered apologetically. "Sam isn't able to come to the phone right now. Would you like to leave a message?"

Danny's heart thudded in his chest. "Why can't she come to the phone, if I may ask?" He had to be extremely polite when speaking to Sam's mum – she'd use his lack of manners as a reason why he wouldn't be allowed to speak to Sam.

"I'm afraid Sam isn't home at the moment," Mrs Manson replied curtly.

"Do you know where she is, or any way that I would be able to contact her?" Danny wasn't expecting a positive reply. "I mean, since she's not answering hr cell phone or anything…"

Mrs Manson hesitated briefly. "No, Danny, I am sorry I do not know where she is or how she could be contacted." She muttered hopelessly. "Goodbye, Mr Fenton."

She hung up before he could reply.

Danny looked at the wallpaper on his cell phone of him and his two best friends eating ice cream. It had been taken less than a month ago. Since then, Sam had begun to change into a different person. Tucker and Danny had dismissed her change in attitude and put it down to 'girl business'. But it was obviously something worse.

Sam had run away from home. Either that or she hadn't returned to her house at all after school. She had answered her cell phone earlier and seemed her usual self but now her cell emitted a 'disconnected' signal. She was either in trouble or she didn't want to talk to anyone.

Danny transformed into his ghost self once more and jumped into the pitch black night sky. Perhaps the power had gone off, because none of the street lamps were working. Danny frowned and tried to think of places that Sam enjoyed to visit, or where she might go when in a bad mood.

He knew she wasn't at that Goth bookstore that she liked because of course, it was shut at these hours, and he had flown past it on his way to her house. There had been no one inside – otherwise his keen ghost sense would've picked her up.

"Suspicious," A female voice called to him from behind.

Danny spun around and narrowed his eyes. Floating directly opposite him was a figure clad in red and standing atop a hover board. It was none other than Danny Fenton's school friend, and Danny Phantom's hunter, Valerie Gray. And no offence to the persistent girl, but Danny was not in the mood to deal with her.

"So the street lamps just _happen_ to be off?" Valerie demanded, hoisting a gun upon her shoulder, the barrel aimed directly at the half ghost.  
"Look, I'm not in the mood," Danny growled at the girl. "And I had nothing to do with this. If you don't mind, I'd like to be alone. Why don't you hunt the box ghost, or something?" He suggested.

Right on cue, Danny's ghost sense was triggered and the box ghost came flying past, shouting out "Beware!" as he did so.

Valerie didn't even spare the pathetic ghost a glance. She continued to focus her masked gaze on Danny. "Oh, don't even think of getting your ghost pals to distract me,"

"Ghost pals?" Danny asked with a humourless laugh. "Ghost pals? Come on, I'm not _that_ pathetic."

He fired an ice blast at Valerie's arm, hoping to freeze it where it was. He knew he shouldn't use his ice powers on humans because they were in danger of catching frostbite, but he really needed to find Sam. Valerie tried to dodge the blast, but it hit her ecto-gun instead.

"Too bad," Danny muttered before flying off. He didn't look behind him to see if Valerie was still a threat – he just flew away as fast as he could to lessen the chances of her catching up to him anytime soon.

* * *

Danny had been searching for Sam for almost a half hour when he got a call on his cell phone. He checked the caller ID and cursed – it was Kelly. He had forgotten to call her and reassure her about his safe getaway from the earlier scene at the Nasty Burger.

Instead of doing the smart thing and answering the call, Danny ignored it. He couldn't change back into Fenton at this time, and could not risk the fact that Kelly might be able to detect the slight ghostly echo in his voice. He would just have to call her later and apologise – he would pretend he'd lost his phone.

Only two minutes later his phone began to ring once again. Danny cursed and glanced at the caller ID – he thought it would be Kelly once again, being persistent. Instead, it was his sister. Danny flipped the phone open without a second thought and muttered into it.

"Danny!" Jazz growled. "You forgot to meet me. Oh, and just letting you know, Sam called and told me to tell you that she's okay."

"Seriously?" Danny asked, relieved that he had been worrying over nothing. "Is she at home?"

"Yeah, she called from her home phone. She said you'd talked to her mum earlier. But she said not to come and visit her all the time because she needed privacy. She was in a grumpy mood when she called," Jazz commented.

"Oh okay."

"But anyway, I really need to talk to you when you get home. And I suggest you get home soon. Mum and Dad are getting worried – it's past your curfew." Jazz informed him.

"Oh damn!" Danny cursed as he glanced at his watch. "I totally forgot! I'll be there in a sec, okay?"  
"Bye."  
Danny hung up and changed the direction of his flight, instead setting a path towards his house. He sped up, knowing that if he was too late his parents may call the police, and he didn't want to explain to everyone what he was doing so late at night. But what would he tell his parents when they demanded an explanation?

"I'll tell them the truth," he decided. "Not the whole truth, but I'll tell them I was looking for Sam because she had disappeared."

He saw his house at the exact same time that his ghost sense went off. Surely enough, there was a ghost hovering just beyond his bedroom window. His keen eye sight informed him of the ghost's identity as it turned to look at him. Kelly-Go-Boom.

She frowned slightly and he noticed that she had concern written all over her face. She must've looked up his address and come to check on him because he hadn't answered his phone. She would've noticed that Danny Fenton wasn't inside and overheard her parent's conversation about it. She may have even overheard Jazz's conversation with him.

If that was the case, then Kelly wouldn't believe that he had lost his phone. After all, Jazz had rung only minutes before Kelly.

"Just out of curiosity," Danny called from ten metres away, unwilling to go too close to his own house in case his parents spotted him and trained their guns on his body. "What are you doing?"

"I could ask the same question," Kelly replied.

"Why, I'm but patrolling the city. Now answer my question."

Kelly's lower lip wobbled, her green hair blowing in the slight wind. "He's missing," she whispered.

"No, he's not." Danny told her.  
"Then where is he? He's not here, and no one knows where he is."

Danny glanced around him, trying to figure out a way to get her away from his house. "Well, how about you call him again? I can't help you. I'm late."

He flew around a corner and into a nearby alleyway, ignoring Kelly as she called out, "Late for what?"

Danny felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and without further delay, changed back into his human self. He waited for a few seconds before flipping the phone open. "Hello?" He answered, beginning to walk towards his distant house.

"Danny!" Kelly hadn't changed back into a human – her voice had a ghostly echo to it. "Why didn't you answer your phone earlier?"

Danny glanced around him, trying to think up an excuse. "Oh, I was talking… with someone."

"Oh," Kelly sounded crestfallen, probably thinking that Danny had been out, having a 'wild' time with a girl. "I'm sorry for bugging you."

"You're not bugging me," Danny laughed, trying to lighten her mood and convince her that he was literally talking to someone when she had called earlier. "Sam went missing, and Tuck got really worried so I went over and talked to Sam's mum." He explained.

"Oh. Has she been found yet?"

Danny could tell that the concern in Kelly's voice was fake – she already knew the answer to that question since she had overheard Jazz's conversation with him. "Yeah, Jazz told me she had. Oh, man I didn't realise it was so late. My parents will kill me. Did you make it out of the Nasty Burger okay? I lost you and couldn't find you. And then they evacuated the area." He lied.

"Oh, yeah I'm fine. I was worried about you, though. You just seemed to disappear. I'm glad you didn't get hurt or anything… did you?"

"No," Danny laughed. "Okay, sorry Kelly, I've got to go. I'll talk to you tomorrow at school, okay?"  
"Cool, can't wait."

Danny had reached his front door while he had been talking to Kelly, and could feel her eyes on him from the sky. His ghost sense was going crazy, causing him to shiver, but he knew that he had to ignore it. She wouldn't be able to sense him when he was in his human form, thankfully.

Danny cautiously turned the door handle and opened the door, revealing two angry parents behind it.

"Young man, you've got some explaining to do."

* * *

**Haha this was the hardest chapter to write, but not because it was actually hard. My wireless keyboard died, and I don't have a non-wireless keyboard so I was doomed. Then I grabbed a pen and paper and wrote one sentence down and then died of stomach pains. And so I was up half the night, dying, dizzy, with a fever sort of thing, passing out and all that. How fun!!**

**But now I'm almost all better :) and I'm on my sisters computer that is not connected to the internet, so… I better send this to my computer. And I'm on the guest account so I'll have to get the password off of her when she returns from work because I can't put documents from the guest account onto a usb stick… and then I'll be able to post this chapter, yay :)**

**Love Kirstyn And Her VampElfDottedDots :D **


	8. A Bit of Food to Digest

**This chapter is shorter than some of the others. I had originally planned to have much more in here, but I wanted to end the next chapter at a certain point, and so if I had written all I had planned to write in this chapter, this one chapter would be 5000+ words. I'm probably confusing you, but either way, it's roughly 2,500 words. Damn, my average words per story is only 7,500. I NEED to improve that. I'm not going to just sit around and watch as my average is this low. I may have used to write short stories, but nowadays my average words per story is 40,000+. And I don't think I've finished any stories in a very long time. So I am GOING to bring that average up to AT LEAST 10,000 in the very near future. Before the end of this month, in fact.**

**If I don't, I give you permission to seek me out and flay me :) I like that word. But anyway, here's the chapter. Not very interesting, and not edited at all :D If there's any horrific mistakes, tell me and I'll edit the chapter and put it back up. But for now, Bon Voyage!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Seven**

**A Bit of Food to Digest**

Danny looked from one parent to the other. His mother was frowning at him, her hands on her hips, her teeth biting down on her bottom lip. On the other hand, his dad had a slight frown on his face and was staring at Danny absently. His hands were behind his back – Danny assumed that he was playing with either a new invention or a ghost toy of his. Jack acted younger than Danny most of the time.

"Um," Danny began, looking at his mum because he knew that she was the one he would have to convince that he was being truthful.

"And I don't want any petty excuses, either. I want the cold hard truth," Maddie Fenton warned Danny. "And look me in the eyes."

Danny nodded and did as she obeyed. "Sam went missing," he declared. "I talked to her mum about it. And then I went to look for her. I got carried away and forgot to check the time. I knew it was late but I was worried about Sam."

Maddie Fenton glared at her son, not quite believing the tale that he was telling. She would not let him feed her such a heartless lie. "So I suppose if I call Mrs Manson and ask her about this, she will confirm this story of yours?"

Danny glanced away from his mothers hard and heavy eyes. "She doesn't know I went out to look for Sam," Danny admitted. "But she was the one who told me that Sam was missing."

"And so where is Sam now?" Maddie asked suspiciously.

"At her house," Jazz informed them as she came slowly down the staircase. "She called only a few minutes ago to tell Danny that she was okay. But he wasn't here, so she left the message with me. I was just coming to tell you."

Maddie looked from one child to the other, more suspicious than ever. But instead of questioning them further, she let the issue drop. "I don't want it to happen again, young man. You need to learn that we are your parents, and we have the final say. You're grounded for the next two days."

Danny glanced at Jazz, conveying the fact that he wanted to talk to her with his icy blue eyes, before grumbling, "Fine, mum."

"Now," Maddie commanded, taking charge. "Upstairs, young man. You're to shower and go straight to bed. I don't want to hear a sound coming from your bedroom. I'm going to work on an invention in the lab and your father is going to stay here and guard the door to make sure you don't try anything."

"Yes, mum."

* * *

Jazz didn't even bother knocking on Danny's door after she heard him turn the shower off. He had to pretend to be following Maddie's orders. Just as long as they kept quiet, their mother would believe that Danny had showered and gone straight to bed.

Jazz shut the door behind her as soon as she was in her little brother's bedroom. She looked to the closed door of the bathroom and prayed to herself that he was wearing at least a towel, if not clothes. Otherwise, things may be just a little bit awkward between the two of them.

The door opened and Danny walked out, drying his raven black hair with a sea blue towel. Jazz released the breath that she had been holding – Danny was fully clothed. Well, he was wearing blue and white striped pyjamas.

"So, my news or your news first?" Danny asked as he threw the towel to his drawers and took a seat upon his bed.

Jazz sunk to the floor and leaned against the door in case someone tried to enter. "Yours, I suppose."

Danny rested his elbows on his legs and put his chin upon his hands, gazing intently at his older and only sister. "So, there's this new girl, Kelly, right?" He began.

Jazz grinned. "The one you like?"

Danny shot her a glare.

"The one you were sitting with at lunch," Jazz amended herself, sobering up slightly. "With the red hair?"

Danny nodded. "So, I know I only met her and all,"

Jazz interrupted. "But you find yourself falling in love with her! How romantic!" she cried with delight.

"Jazz!" Danny yelled, though he kept his voice at a reasonable tone so as to keep himself from alerting his mother of suspicious behaviour. "Look, let _me _tell you the story. So, this afternoon, I found out that Kelly was half ghost."

Jazz gasped. "No way!" she whispered.

"Way," Danny replied with a smile. "I don't know what to do. I'll tell you in more detail later, but I have to patrol soon so I can't spend too much time explaining right now. Now, you tell me your news."

Jazz swallowed and glanced around her. "Mum's suspicious," she told him quietly.

"Suspicious? Of my…"

Jazz nodded. "Well, she probably hasn't guessed, yet. I found her going through your room today, looking for evidence."

"Evidence? Evidence of _what_, exactly?" Danny muttered.

"Look, I don't know what ideas she has implanted in her mind, but she's not dumb Danny. She's going to find out one day, and when she does… well I don't know what will happen. But I think it's best if you tell her before she finds out," Jazz advised him. "Sometime soon. Just, think about it, okay? And after the… fights, clean yourself up a bit. She's really worried about your safety. And she knows that I know something about it all – why else would I be allowing you to supposedly harm yourself? But I better get to bed, or she may get even more suspicious. G'night, Danny."

"Night Jazz," Danny replied.

* * *

Maddie stepped back from Danny's bedroom door and quickly crept down the hallway, into the guest room. She was just in time – as soon as she entered the guest bedroom she heard Jazz open her brothers creaky bedroom door. Maddie listened cautiously as Danny's door creaked. She could heard footsteps, but fortunately they were heading in the opposite direction to the room that she was hiding in.

Maddie sunk to the floor and stared around the dark room in the door. She had missed out on parts of their conversation, and had only started listening when Jazz had told Danny that she was getting suspicious.

"So Jazz definitely knows what is going on," Maddie confirmed in a whisper. "And Danny is definitely getting into fights. And Jazz _approves_of this?"

She shook her head. Why were her children keeping such a big secret from her? Were they concerned that she might take it well, or that it might worry her? Were they ashamed of their behaviour? Were they scared of her reaction? Did they think she would get furious?

Maddie closed her eyes, feeling a warm, salty tear trickle down her cheek. Jazz didn't want Danny to keep the secret anymore. And they were risking so much to keep her and Jack from finding out what was really going on….

"What are you involved in, Danny?" Maddie whispered into the dark, empty room.

* * *

_Kelly._

He had only met the girl today, yet she had made such a huge impact on his life. For a start, there was the way that he felt about her. His heart went crazy whenever he so much as thought about her, let alone was near her. He had liked Sam for a while, but it was only just an urge to kiss her. That had soon disappeared. The same thing had happened many more times with other girls – Paulina, Valerie, even Julietta, his old science partner.

But never had his feelings been so deep, so… intense. He didn't just want to kiss her – or find his way into her pants, despite what Jazz would say to him in this situation, that it was his crazed hormones speaking – he also wanted to get to know her, to talk to her, to find a friend in her. He wanted her to be like no other person he knew – he wanted her to be like the other half of him. The one that made him whole.

"Okay, lame," Danny told himself.

But it was true. No matter how lame it may sound, that was what Danny wanted, deep down inside. But he was torn in half by the fact that Kelly was half ghost. He knew it was unreasonable to be reacting this way to a secret such as this – a secret that he himself kept – but there was a part of him that didn't want to accept the truth.

"Why am I reacting this way to such news?"

He pondered the question in his head. There was no reason for him to be reacting like such. Maybe it was because it was hard for him to take in such facts about a person he had only just met. Maybe his body was going into overdrive. Or it could be his natural human instincts – don't trust ghosts. He himself was a ghost, but he didn't trust a ghost anywhere near as far as he could throw one.

There were probably plenty of do-gooder ghosts in the universe but Danny was independent. Maybe he didn't want someone stealing his limelight. But no, that wasn't it. He wasn't jealous of Kelly. He was… crushing on her. He couldn't admit that he was in love with her – after all, it was way too early to be confessing undying love for the girl. He'd only just met her.

So Danny decided that the reason he didn't like the idea of Kelly being half ghost was because of his human instincts. But he would get over them.

Danny jumped as he felt his phone vibrate against the mattress of his bed. He flipped it open and saw that he had a text message from Tucker.

It read:

_Hey Dan, it's Tuck. Called Sam, she can't patrol. I can, though. We talk Kelly. Ha. C u at park._

Danny closed the phone and frowned with determination. Something was definitely wrong with Sam.

* * *

"Danny, get up." Maddie growled angrily.

Danny opened his eyes and snuck a quick glance at his alarm clock. It was 8:20am. He cringed as he realised how late he was. On top of that, he hadn't done his math homework from the previous week. He had entirely forgotten about it, and was probably going to receive an earful from his maths teacher. It always happened – she was a cranky old lady and would use any excuse to yell at her students.

"I'm up," Danny called to his mother groggily, surprised that he was so tired. He normally stayed up late and got little sleep, but never was he this tired. It was probably the effect of the past day. So much had happened in so little time; Danny's body hadn't even begun to process it.

Danny decided to skip the shower for this morning and get a good breakfast in. He could smell his mother's cooking – bacon and eggs on toast. He smiled, glad that his mother was able to cook. His father, on the other hand… well, he had attempted to cook sausages in buns. The sausages had mutated and attacked Danny and Jazz.

"Morning dear," Maddie greeted Danny cheerfully. "I bought a new box of pop tarts the other day. It's a new flavour – Passion fruit ripple. Want to try?"

Danny nodded eagerly, before realising that his mother had her back turned to him. "Sure, thanks."

As soon as breakfast was finished cooking, Maddie left the room to apparently 'work on some recent experimentations' but Danny could tell that his mother was still thinking about last night. Jazz was right – she truly was getting suspicious. But how could he tell his parents that he was the infamous public enemy number one that they hunted? How would they feel, knowing that they had tried to kill their own son more than a dozen times?

They didn't need that kind of guilt. At least, not yet.

Danny swallowed down his enormous breakfast – he was a growing ghost – and brushed his teeth clean, making sure that there was no trace of meat between his teeth. He flashed himself a smile in the mirror before picking up some coins for his lunch money and hoisting his bag upon his back.

"I'm going!" he called to the silent house. There was no answer.

Danny shrugged and stepped onto the front porch. He transformed into Danny Phantom – he would need ghost powers to ensure that he got to school on time – and leapt into the air. He heard a slight buzzing sound and looked at the brick wall above the front door, where a camera was concealed.

"Damn," he cursed. "Stupid me. I always forget we have security cameras. I'd better delete the tapes this afternoon. After all, I'm grounded, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of spare time on my hands."

When he was a block away from the school, he jumped behind a tree – yes, great cover – and changed back into Danny Fenton. He ruffled up his already messy hair and began to walk at a normal, calm pace towards the school. Due to his quick flight, he had arrived five minutes before the first bell went off.

Danny knew that he had to talk to Sam this morning, to talk about what was going on. Tucker couldn't be trusted in a serious situation – he was a great guy but he'd buckle under the pressure, make some lame comment and disappear as soon as he could.

He walked through the front doors and headed for Sam's locker, where she would normally be standing at this time of day. Surprisingly, she wasn't there.

Danny's phone vibrated in his pocket and he pulled it out, discovering that he had received a text message.

_Not comin 2 skool. Soz I skipped PE, 2. C u l8r. Sam._

* * *

**I'm so glad that I've decided what is wrong with Sam, and so glad that I've decided on a plot. I'm doing chapter plans now, so I can make sure I don't leave anything important out or anything, and make sure that it's at LEAST 15 chapters. Because I will settle for no less. And i will not rush into it. Unlike in the original, Danny and Kelly won't be in love on the first OR second day that they meet. Kelly may be bad at keeping her secret - haha, proof that she is NOT a Mary Sue, she is terrible at keeping things from others, where Mary Sue is peeeerrrrrrrrrfect - but she is not a totally slusgo. She shall not fall in love with Danny in the next chapter. I doubt they'll be in love by the end of the story. These things take time. Lot's of time. But. I should go. I'm just having a hard time without my SteFunGoJam.**

**:)**

**Remind me to keep writing. It was hard to get this chapter done. I kept getting distracted and I really didn't want to write it. But I feel proud, now that the chapter is done.  
Expect a whole lot more from me :) I'm doing a good job so far. And if anyone out there is ACTUALLY reading this story...**

**Please? Would it kill you to review? :( I just want constructive criticism or something like that. I have to improve SOMEHOW. And... Just remember, I'm not pouring my heart and soul into this, and I am not such a terrible writer all the time... I've gotten much better lately :) :) :) And also, I'm terrible at the slang thing. Never use it, never have never will.**

**But right, stay on track.**

**REVIEWS, PEOPLE!!**

**Loving from Her Kirstynness.  
**


	9. Skipping

**Yes. I didn't get everything I wanted in here. Chapters 7, 8 and 9 (which hasn't been written yet) were originally meant to be only one chapter. But i had to split them into three because I get so damn distracted when I write and it'll probably take me five hundred chapters to get to the end of this. Hope not :) But Ohh, if you haven't noticed, i ACTUALLY UPDATED VORTEX OF DECEPTION! I'm writing the next chapter tomorrow morning, since it is midnight right now. And I am getting sick of writing this story, but I have to reach the 40,000 words at least (easy as pie) and I am not allowed to rush it. But I have to finish writing this story so that I have more time to write Vortex of Deception, so then I have to finish that so I have more time to write other stories of mine, such as A Swan's Grace (or whatever the hell it was called) and Changing Fate which I shall remake, and don't forget Gates of Blood. But anyway. Here's your chapter.**

**ToodleWinks.  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Eight**

**Skipping**

* * *

By the time Danny arrived at his mathematics class, everyone else was seated and had begun to work through their textbooks. This was one of the few classes that Danny didn't share with Kelly, since she wasn't one of those sitting down. He hadn't had maths the previous day so he had held some hope that she would be in this class with him but he hadn't been sure. Now he was certain.

"Mr Fenton?" the maths teacher was surprisingly absent, and in his place stood the dreaded Mr Lancer.

_Why is this guy always substituting? Doesn't he have his own classes to teach? _Danny held in a groan of annoyance as he took a seat in the front row.

"Mr Fenton," Mr Lancer repeated in his teaching voice. "Why is it that you're consistently late, instead of consistently early? I think it's time to do something about this," he scratched his bald head.

Danny rolled his eyes and looked at Mr Lancer's enormous gut. Was Lancer planning on cooking him up and eating him? It wasn't a pretty thought.

"Principal's office, Mr Fenton. Right now." Lancer ordered.

Danny's jaw dropped. It was true that Lancer liked to punish and threaten Danny due to the teen's lack of respect for his teacher, but never did he send his student to the principal's office just because he was _three_ minutes late.

"But," Danny began.

Lancer narrowed his eyes at the 'misbehaved teen'. "No excuses, Mr Fenton. If you don't leave now, I'll throw in a detention for old time's sake."

Danny shrugged his shoulders, seemingly carefree, and left the maths classroom. He'd rather spend that period in the principal's office anyway – the only friend he had in that class was Sam, and she wasn't at school.

_Sam._

Her name did not cause the same reaction that Kelly's had. But it did evoke a strong feeling in Danny – worry. He worried about her a lot. And he also felt guilty when he remembered the fact that he hadn't even noticed her absence the previous day during physical education. He was too busy dreaming about Kelly.

He knew he was acting stupid. Sam was his best friend, and he had just blown her off and forgotten about her because of a girl he had only _just _met. And he had done exactly the same thing not even an hour later, with his own _sister_. He had to get his priority's right and his thinking straight. He could not afford to make these kinds of mistakes – poor Sam, to imagine what she could possibly be thinking. He would go over to her house straight after school to find out what was going on.

"Damn it," he muttered as he remembered that his mother had grounded him. But this was urgent. He would have to skip school.

* * *

"Mr Fenton, please do come in." Principal Ishiyama issued.

Danny obeyed and followed her into her small, cosy little office. There was a pot plant in the corner, and surprisingly the plant was not yet dead, and not even dying for that matter. There was a small oak desk with a red, cushioned seat behind it. Opposite that seat was a hard, plastic blue chair. It was to this chair that Principal Ishiyama gestured.

Danny took a seat, relaxing his body so as to convey the message that he wasn't a trouble maker, and he wasn't afraid of the punishment she dealt out.

"So, Mr Fenton, it's been well-known amongst us teachers that you seem to be having a bit of trouble getting to classes on time, if at all." Ishiyama began, waiting to see if Danny would interrupt her. Most students did. But when he said nothing, she decided to continue. "Now, you've been given detention to apprehend this behaviour, but a lot of us do not think that this is working.

"We only have your future in mind, Mr Fenton. I'm sure you've realised that if you continue to skip school and arrive late to your classes, your grades will slip and you will need to be tutored if you want to live out a successful life. Surprisingly, your grades have improved recently, but they will begin to fall. Now, what is your opinion on this? Do you have a reason behind all of these absences?"

Ishiyama looked at him expectantly, although she couldn't actually believe he'd have an _excuse_ for skipping so many classes? "I think you're absolutely right," he said, surprising her. "I am trying my hardest but sometimes it's so hard to get to class on time. But I can't supply you with a reason for my absences."

"Perhaps it is time that we called your parents in for a conference," Ishiyama suggested, watching to see if he reacted to her words. Instead, Danny just shrugged. "Understand that the second time you are brought in front of me, we will have to involve the Department of Learning, and you will be most likely placed on a period check system. But for now, I think I'll just have a word to your parents. Return to mathematics, Mr Fenton."

"Yes, Principal Ishiyama." Danny resisted the urge to salute her and instead let himself out of the office.

He got out into the corridor and hesitated. His maths classroom was to the left and the door to freedom to his right. He would feel slightly guilty for skipping class straight after the principal herself had talked to him – and there wasn't a ghost problem to deal with – but Sam was worth the trouble he would find himself in. His parents would find out and he would likely be grounded for longer. But that wasn't important.

Danny left the school without even looking back and crept into a nearby alleyway. He would've transformed into Danny Phantom as soon as he had gotten out of school if not for those pesky security cameras that had recently been installed. They had caused him so much trouble in the past. And if he so much as acted suspicious in front of one of the security cameras, he would have to steal the tapes and burn the evidence. Just like with the security cameras in his own home.

"I'm going to become ghostly," Danny chuckled as he said this, remembering a time when he had lost his memory and Sam had helped him to recover it. Now, it was his time to help _her_.

She wasn't home.

Danny discovered that when he invisibly entered her house and found that her bedroom was empty. Her parents were acting normally – her mother was cooking and her father was playing mini golf with friends – so they obviously assumed that she had gone to school.

_What's up with the disappearing act?_ Danny asked himself.

* * *

She picked up on the second ring, which had not been expected.

"Hello?" she sounded groggy.

"Sam, it's me, Danny," he told her, flying through the sky in search of something, anything, that would distract him.

"Danny?" Now she was wide awake and sounded panicked. "What are you doing, ringing me? I told you… I told you I wasn't coming to school. I'm in bed sick, Danny. I need rest."

"Okay, Sam, cut it out," Danny was annoyed with his friend. She had obviously been lying to him. "I just flew past your house. You are not there. So would you care to tell me where you are and what the hell has been going on for the past few weeks?"

The other end was silent for a few moments. "Sorry, I have to go."

He growled at his phone as he heard a beeping tone – she had disconnected, or in other words, hung up on him. He slammed the phone shut and threw it below him, infuriated, not even thinking of the repercussions. 50 feet below him, his phone hit the cement footpath and shattered into many small pieces.

* * *

Danny had decided on skipping out on the class that he had before recess – history. Unfortunately, he had Lancer for history _and_ maths, so the teacher would know for sure that Danny was ditching. What was also unfortunate was that it was a class that he had with Kelly, and that meant he had missed out on sitting near her and admiring her sheer perfectness.

But Danny had needed time to think, time to just be alone.

But finally it was recess, and Danny entered the cafeteria without his money – it was still in his locker – because he wasn't hungry. He spotted Tucker sitting on a bench with Valerie Gray over by the window and walked over to join them.  
"Hey Danny," Tuck greeted his friend. "Missed you in History," he commented idly.

"Mm," Danny muttered, staring out the window. Tucker understood that that meant 'tell you later when Valerie isn't around' but of course, Valerie didn't.

"Why _are_ you always ditching, hey Fenton? It's not like we had any homework or anything due in History, and we did nothing at all just then." Valerie wondered.

Danny shrugged. "No reason."

"Of course there's a reason," Valerie argued. "So, what is it?"

"Give Danny some slack," Tucker jumped in, not wanting the conversation to continue in that direction. "He's got some major emotions playing around. Hormones, you hear? For a certain new someone."

"Tucker," Danny growled.

"Aw, you like Kelly?" Valerie crooned. "But I'm not dropping this. What's your reason for skipping?" Valerie growled.

"Yeah, what _is_ your reason for skipping History? And maths as well, according to Mr Lancer." Kelly announced as she sat down next to Danny.

His heart fluttered in his chest but he forced himself to pay attention to what Valerie had started to say. "Yeah, you should've seen him. He was infuriated. Kept muttering about how he had sent you to the principal's office to sort out your tardy problems, and you never returned! Classic." She laughed. "Cough it up, Fenton."

Danny grinned mysteriously at the two girls. "Oh, I was getting in touch with my feminine side."

Kelly smiled at his response but Valerie's expression remained as hard as stone. "No jokes. I won't stop until I get the reason out of you. You are always skipping, and I know you Danny. You're not a rebellious kid or anything, and you don't hang around with a bad gang."

"Valerie, don't you think it's a little bit personal?" Tucker muttered.

"Tucker knows why," Kelly announced. "Which means there must be a reason behind all of this."

"Fenton," Valerie growled.

Danny shrugged. "Because," was his answer to their questions.

"That is no answer!" Valerie screamed, causing others in the cafeteria to turn and stare at her. "Nothing to see here folks." She called, laughing nervously before turning to glare at Danny once again.

All three had turned to stare at Danny – Tucker looked apologetic, Kelly looked curious and concerned and Valerie looked plain angry. Danny smiled and said, "No reason."

"Argh!" Valerie cried.

"Valerie," Danny began calmly. "Don't you think that you're making a big deal out of this? I mean, it's nothing. I'm fine, I'm not hurting myself, and what I do stays between me, and me. It's not dangerous, and I'm not dragging anyone else into it. So, what's your problem?"

"Doesn't make it okay to skip," Kelly admonished him.

"You're one to talk," Danny muttered. Could he possibly be angry with Kelly?

"What?" Kelly asked suspiciously.

"Nothing," Tucker and Danny sung in unison.

"And the point is," Danny continued. "I'm not going to tell you."

Valerie growled at him and bunched her hands into fists. "You're going to tell me, Fenton, and now."

Danny's eyes flashed green for a moment before returning to their usual bright blue. "Back off, Gray." He growled in a quiet voice.

"Make me," Valerie taunted him.

"Believe me, I will." Danny spat as he dramatically stood up and stormed out of the cafeteria.

He heard hushed footsteps heading towards him and snuck a glance behind him. It was Kelly, following him. She looked concerned, but more importantly, she looked determined. If she had seen his eyes back in the cafeteria, she would surely be suspicious. After all, she was half ghost. She ought to know the signs as well as he did.

He pretended that he didn't know that she was following him. She was only doing it to see where he went, and to find out for herself why he was ditching. But he didn't plan on missing any more classes that day, so instead of heading towards the main entrance, Danny headed for his locker. But as soon as he turned the corner towards it, he knew there was trouble.

His ghost sense went off as he glanced behind him – Kelly had noticed the presence of the ghosts too, and was preparing to transform. It was not a good time to bump into ghosts, and especially not a good time to bump into these particular ghosts.

"Daniel, Daniel, Daniel."

Danny continued to walk towards his locker. There were four of them, but they were the ghosts he dreaded seeing the most.

"Aren't you happy to see me? After all, I know what's happening with Sam." Vlad Plasmius announced as his ghost vultures cackled behind him.

* * *

**Okay I had totally not meant for that to happen, but aren't I glad that it did? I wasn't planning on making Vlad show up at all. And this chapter was meant to have nothing to do with Sam or Valerie. And oh I hate Valerie so much, why did she have to question him continuously and be so damn annoying!? But I don't really feel much like talking. Writing my stories, perhaps, and watching Shakugan no Shana, definitely. I don't know what I'm going to do. But at least I don't have to work tomorrow :) I'll have plenty of time to write, and if I'm lucky I might get two chapters of each story up. It all depends on what sort of mood I am in and how difficult these chapters are to write.**

**But please, I feel so unloved. Someone MUST be reading this story.**

**Review?**

**I am not loving you... yet ;)  
**


	10. Boldness

**This chapter is 3,000 words, yay! And only because I decided I didn't want to split it into two chapters, and skipped a little bit. I hadn't orginally planned for it to happen the way that it did, but I'm satisfied. I think this will be the only chapter I will write today. It took me AGES to write this, but mainly because I kept getting so distracted (glares at Stephamephaniphinaniphie) and yeah. Oh, and if you hadn't heard...  
I'm rewriting Changing Fate, and will start in... five minutes, once I have finished uploading this chapter!!! Yay! **

**And... I AM CONTINUING VORTEX OF DECEPTION :D. So lots of good news.**

**But also, there is bad news. Now I have less time to update this story. But I have it all planned out, and there SHOULD be approximately 21 chapters, but no less. Which means that I reach my 40,000 word goal, and therefore put my average words per story up! :) But anyway, I hope this chapter is okay. I couldn't be bothered editing it, once again. Maybe one day I will go through it and edit it. Not today. If only SOMEONE would hurry up and read it (glare glare glare) then they could edit it FOR me (steph steph steph)**

**But here it is!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Nine**

**Boldness**

* * *

Danny froze up. Vlad had something to do with Sam, he just knew it. So it was Danny's task to beat the answer out of Vlad, despite the fact that the girl he liked who was also half ghost, who he didn't particular want to tell that he was Danny Phantom, was standing right behind him. She hadn't transformed yet, meaning that she wanted to hear the exchange between the ghost and Danny.

Danny knew he wouldn't get a straight answer, but he had to ask anyway. "What have you done with Sam?"

Vlad chuckled evilly. "Sam? Me? I have done nothing with your little friend."

"And pigs can fly." Danny retorted.

Vlad smiled and pointed towards a nearby window. Danny knew that if he looked he'd be a complete idiot – he agreed with Skulker when the ghost had warned him to pay full attention to his enemy despite the circumstances – but that didn't stop him. One glance out of the window and his jaw dropped. There was a pig out there. It was flying.

"Ghost pigs can, though," Vlad concluded.

"If you're not going to tell me about Sam, then why _are_ you here, Plasmius? You aren't welcome." Danny announced. Though he didn't like the ghost or even the man very much, Danny couldn't bring himself to call him by his first name. If he did so, Kelly might discover who he was and… something bad would result from that discovery.

"Just to watch you squirm. You will accept my offer one day, Daniel." Vlad responded in his most triumphant voice. "And no, I _will not get a cat_!"

"How did you know that I was thinking that?" Danny smirked.

Vlad didn't answer – instead he disappeared in a flash of light – teleportation. Danny had not yet learnt to master that power. It was the result of Vlad having had 20 years to be by himself and train, to discover all of his powers. Danny, on the other hand, had only been a halfa for a year.

Danny hadn't noticed that the ghost vultures were still hovering around. Their leader, whose name Danny did not know, flew forward and began to speak. "That is right, we shall have victory. And there is nothing you can do, no portal that you can send us through, gho-"

It was at this exact moment that Danny remembered Kelly's presence behind him. Instead of letting the vulture finish his gloating, Danny decided to shut him up. He launched himself forwards, towards the vulture, and threw a punch. The ghost vulture went down in a flurry of feathers. His other two companions shrieked and launched themselves at him, ready to attack.

Danny's ghost sense went off – Kelly had transformed to save him from the vultures that she thought he wasn't able to fight. He shrugged his shoulders and watched as the vultures flew at him, planning to peck out his eyeballs. Just as he had expected, Kelly-Go-Boom threw herself in front of him. Danny just remained calm, watching as she shot them down with ecto-blasts.

"So, who are you?" he asked calmly, as if he wasn't surprised to see her defending him.

She turned to him with an incredulous look on her face. She couldn't believe that he was asking such a question in the middle of a fight. "Um, just call me KGB for now." She muttered, obviously not wanting him to know that her name was Kelly-Go-Boom, particularly the Kelly part.

"Behind you," Danny nodded to the same two vultures that had been aiming for him. They had gotten up.

Danny could sense the other vulture behind him and saw Kelly's eyes widen in fright. She didn't turn around to stop the ghost vultures from harming her – instead she was fixed on the one behind him. He shrugged his shoulders as she began to fire an ecto-blast towards the vulture behind him and ducked beneath her upraised arms.

Once he was behind her, he sent a high kick towards one vulture and a punch towards the other. Both slammed into nearby lockers, hard enough to leave dents. Kelly had turned around when Danny had slid past her, and had watched his assault on the ghosts with disbelief.

While the vultures were all still down, Danny whipped his trusty Fenton thermos from his bag – he carried his bag around wherever he went for this exact reason - and opened the cap. He was careful not to aim it at Kelly – that would be awkward. Plus, he knew how it felt to be crammed up in such a small container – Jazz had done it many times in the past, just after she'd joined their 'ghost hunting group'.

Once the ghosts had been taken care of, Danny replaced the lid and shoved his thermos hastily into his backpack. He would _not_ risk getting caught with that and teased for the rest of his life. The bell was about to ring. Danny was about to head towards his locker and grab his English books but he could feel Kelly's blood red eyes boring into him.

He looked up with a smile – she looked suspicious. "So what does KGB stand for?"

"Is this _normal_ for you?" Kelly shrieked. "Most people who are visited by ghosts do _not_ converse with them and then attack them! Most people run away _screaming_! And they do _not_ suck them into thermoses!"

Danny laughed nervously. "Well, that's what you get when you have parents that are also ghost hunters. They make me carry this junk around with me." He tapped his backpack, gesturing to the Fenton Thermos that was inside.

Kelly just narrowed her eyes at him. Danny grinned as the bell went and waved at her. "I'd love to talk," he told her. "But unfortunately, that'd make me late for English, and we wouldn't want that now, would we?" he winked at KGB.

"I'm a ghost!" she cried out to his retreating form. "Why do you talk to me so normally?!"

"Because I know the truth," he muttered beneath his breath.

* * *

As it turned out, Danny was on time to his English class. And of course, Mr Lancer was standing up the front, watching his students file into the room. His eyes lingered on Danny and he smiled humourlessly. "Mr Fenton, I'm glad you decided to grace us with your presence for this period. Don't think we are unaware of your disappearing act."

There were a few snickers from the back of the room as Danny nodded curtly. He took his usual seat and smiled – he knew that Kelly would be late. It wasn't like he wanted her to get into trouble, or anything, but he could then question _her_ about her lateness to class. It would be enjoyable, for him, at least.

"Settle down and take your seats," Lancer ordered the people who were still standing around, chatting to their friends.

Danny wasn't talking to friends – the only two he had in this class with him were Sam and Kelly, and neither of the two had shown up. He just slouched down in his seat, trying not to mull over the problems in his life. His eyes watched the door, waiting for Kelly to make her late arrival.

"Okay, I would like you to open your notebooks to page 138 and read the short poem on the nights in lonely China by-"

Lancer was interrupted by the door opening, and Kelly entering. She blushed as everyone turned to stare at her – after all, it was only her second day and she was already late. "Miss Stager, I see you've arrived a little bit late,"

"I'm sorry Mr Lancer," she apologised, ducking her head. "I was in the bathroom."

Lancer's hard expression didn't soften up. "Just make sure it doesn't happen again. Take your seat and turn to page 138."

Kelly nodded her head and sat down in her seat. She glanced over towards Danny and he grinned at her. "So, Kelly, why were you _really_ late?" he asked with raised eyebrows.

She looked at him nervously, fearing that he had figured out her secret. "I was… in the bathroom," she lied once again.

"No you weren't," Danny argued friendlily. "Next time you're late for whatever reason it may be, don't use the bathroom excuse. He'll think you're under my influence." Danny informed her.

"But I was in the bathroom!" Kelly protested.

"I'll let it drop if you let the thing about me ditching drop," Danny offered.

"Fine," she muttered, opening her notebook.

Danny watched her beautifully upset face for a few more seconds. "I'm sorry I missed History. I was looking forward to talking to you about something. It was just really urgent."

She smiled at him. "That's okay. So… um, what's wrong with Sam? Tucker and Valerie were talking about it at recess when you left…"

Danny knew that that was a lie, and that she was only saying that to hide the fact that she had followed him and overheard his conversation with Vlad. He shrugged his shoulders. "Nothing. She's just sick," he lied.

"But-"

"_Miss Stager!_" Mr Lancer cried. "Interrupting my class, are you? Are you better than everyone else? I know for a fact that you failed English at your past school, so you should be paying attention, Missy."

"_Excuse me?_" Kelly retorted in a hysterical voice. "It's a bit hard to concentrate on English when there's such a boring old bozo up the front of the class with a stomach so fat that you can't see past him, and onto the board!" the people behind her gasped. Danny's jaw dropped. "And besides, Mr _Lancer_, I'm not the one who thinks I'm better than everyone else! It's you, dammit! You just like to hear the sound of your own boring voice, and so you stop the lesson just because I don't enjoy hearing it! Let me tell you one thing. _SHUT THE HELL UP!_"

She let out a breath as Mr Lancer's face turned a bright, tomato red. All of the students around Kelly shrunk back, including Danny, not anticipating the explosion.

"Miss. Stager." Lancer growled between gritted teeth. "Out in the hall. _Now._"

Kelly shut her note book and stormed out of the room. Danny's eyes followed her body with surprise. She hadn't seemed like the angry sort – maybe she was under a lot of stress. It might have been his fault, though, since he had confused her so much out in the hall before English. And then he had not accepted her lie. Danny felt a stab of guilt as he watched her shut the door behind her.

_I need to help her out of this. She needs some time to chill out. I just need to think of a way to get Lancer distracted so I can sneak out. _Danny told himself.

An idea formed in his head, causing Danny to smirk eagerly. He turned to the kid behind him and whispered a few words in his ear. The kid shrugged and passed the message along. Danny turned to face the front and sat forward in his seat eagerly as Mr Lancer continued to write something upon the blackboard.

There was a groan from the back of the room, followed by a loud thud. Danny smiled – his plan had worked – and watched as Mr Lancer turned around in anger, expecting to see a disobedient child. Instead, he saw Star lying on the floor, pretending to be unconscious.

"Silence of the Lambs," he shrieked, rushing over to his student. "Are you all right, child?"

_Excellent, he's distracted. _Danny stood up silently and crept towards the door, keeping an eye on the English teacher. He knew he'd get into trouble for what he was about to do, but he would deal with it when the time came to deal with it. After all, he was already in plenty of trouble – his punishment wouldn't get too much worse.

He opened the door, snuck out and quickly shut it behind him again. Kelly glanced up at him in surprise and narrowed her eyes. "What are you doing, Danny?" she asked cautiously.

Danny smiled and grabbed her hand, ignoring the tingling feeling that was creeping up his spine. "Come on," he ordered, pulling her towards the school lockers.

It was only then that she noticed that he was carrying both his English books and hers. She allowed him to pull her away, her heart pounding loudly in her chest. "But I'll get in so much trouble… _you're _going to get in so much trouble, too, Danny. And all because of me,"

Danny stopped at his locker and shoved his books inside, before turning to Kelly and handing her books to her. "It's nothing," he told her sincerely. "I'm willing to help a friend in need. And you desperately need some chilling time. You just about blew the roof off back there."

She laughed nervously as she walked to her locker – which was nearby – and placed her books in. "Yeah, I have a few anger issues," she admitted to him.

"Don't we all?" He laughed. "Come on; let's go before we're caught. But I'm just letting you know in advance… I don't think I'll be at school tomorrow." They jogged towards the main entrance.

"Why not?" she asked curiously.

"Because I think that by that time, my parents would've killed me for ditching school so many times." He pushed the door open for Kelly.

"You should go back," Kelly told him quietly.

"I am not going back in _there_ again. Lancer would kill me before my parents even got the chance." Danny joked.

"I suppose you're right," Kelly smiled. "So, we're we going?"

Danny noticed that he still held onto her hand. He didn't let go. "Come on, I'll show you. It's a really cool place where I like to go when in need of relaxation time."

"Is that where you go to skip? And why you skip so much, since you're in need of relaxation time?" Kelly wondered as she let him pull her along.

"No way," Danny told her. "I skip for reasons of my own. Nothing bad. Dangerous, maybe, but not bad."

Kelly looked concerned. "But you told Valerie that it wasn't dangerous. And how can it be dangerous but not bad?"

Danny laughed. "If I told Valerie the truth of what I was doing, she would come at me with her guns. And it can easily be dangerous while not being bad."

He had pulled her towards the park. He could see it in the distance, but it was not his final destination.

She was silent for a few moments. "What do you mean by she would come at you with her guns? She owns guns?" She wondered as they crossed through the park.

"Oh, not real guns," Danny laughed nervously. There was no getting out of answering that question. "She owns ecto-guns. And trust me, even though designed for ghosts, they really pack a punch with us humans. My father… well, I'll not even get started on him. Let's just say, we've had frequent visits to the emergency room."

"But why does Valerie own ecto-guns?" Kelly enquired.

Danny glanced around him, coming to the place that he had wanted to show Kelly. It was just past the park – a small section of forest. There was a little path beneath the branches of a small tree that led into a pretty amazing clearing. There was even a small pond. "Ever since her life was ruined by ghosts, Valerie has been hunting them. But it's meant to be this totally big secret, so promise me that you won't tell anyone."

"I promise," she whispered.

"Okay, here we are. After you," he offered, holding a branch out of the way for her and gesturing to the path.

She crawled through and he followed suit. She gasped once she was in and moved aside to allow him space to crawl through. He smiled at her expression and took a seat on a patch of green grass.

"It's beautiful," she gasped, coming to sit next to him.

_So are you,_ Danny's mind whispered. She was looking at him, her face lit up by the beauty around her. He noticed that there was a small mole on her left cheek. _It only makes her more perfect. _The light shone down on her face and Danny's fingers twitched.

She was smiling; her beautifully pink lips looked soft. Danny's heart pounded in his chest. His body was on fire – he couldn't control himself any longer.

He leant towards her, his face moving towards hers. He inhaled her perfect scent and decided to be courageous. His heart fluttered pounding intensely in his chest as she looked into his eyes. His hand reached for her cheek and caressed it admiringly for a few moments.

And then, finally, their lips met in a kiss.

* * *

**Finally! That was meant to happen in chapter SEVEN. But I kept getting distracted, haha. And originally, they weren't meant to skip school, and she wasn't going to blow up at Lancer... and yeah there was much more that was going to happen, but I'll probably make that happen in the next chapter... which means there may possibly be 22 chapters. It depends on whether I stay on task with all the other chapters or not, since I have planned them out. But i am eager to get onto writing Changing Fate, so this will be kept short.**

**Please. Do. Review.**

**Unloved Kirstyn :'(  
**


	11. Grounded For Longer

**It's shorter than the last few chapters. Only because I am disappointed in you guys.**

**You guys are not reviewing. I like reviews. They keep me inspired. But when I am not inspired, the writing does not flow as easily. And then I get bored of writing. And then I stop writing stories for perhaps a year. And that is not good news.**

**So please do think of me when you are reading this story. I know someone must be reading this story because of the hits and visitors to the page daily. And I will not update this story until I get another review, one that for a change is not from Steph (AKA stormrider7) though if she doesn't review she's dead.**

**I will continue to write this. But I won't update it.**

**Be Warned.**

**Review, or Else.  
**

**

* * *

he Beginning**

**Chapter Ten**

**Grounded… For Longer.**

* * *

"This is my house," Kelly announced as they stopped in front of a white, cottage-like house. There was a garden out the front – it contained petunias and some other flowers that Danny could not identify. There was a white picket fence surrounding the house and a stepping stone footpath.

"Wow," Danny gasped as he took it in. "Your house is beautiful."

"Thanks," she accepted the compliment shyly. "We moved to this house in particular because it looked so good. We like the whole cottage thing." She explained as she opened the gate for him.

He ducked into the front yard with a smile. He knew that he was grounded, and that if someone wanted to contact him they wouldn't be able to – after all, he had smashed his phone – but that didn't stop him. He wanted to relax, to be happy. Spending time with Kelly achieved those two goals, despite the fact that they had only just met.

"My parents will probably be surprised to see you," Kelly informed him as they reached the front porch. "But don't worry, they're really friendly people."

She opened the door and walked in, inviting him to follow behind her. He looked about him in wonder. So this was what a normal family's house looked like. After all, he hadn't had much chance to view a normal person's home – his was full of wacky ghost hunting equipment, Sam was loaded and lived in luxury, and Tucker's was full of crazy technology.

The walls were a light shade of brown and the carpet was the colour of coffee. There was a staircase, also brown and made out of jarrah, nearby. There was a hallway that ran past the staircase and rooms on either side of them. Kelly led Danny to the left – into the kitchen.

It looked like a kitchen from all the television shows that Danny enjoyed to watch – it was perfect and even included a motherly figure doing the dishes.

"Kelly, you're home." Her mother said as she turned around to look at her daughter. Her eyes widened slightly when she noticed Danny standing awkwardly beside her. "And with a friend."

"Mum, this is Danny." Kelly introduced him to her.

"Ah, nice to meet you Danny." She inclined her head politely to him.

"Nice to meet you too, Mrs Stager. You have a lovely house," He complimented the house because he knew that it was something that young housewives loved to hear.

"Why thank you," she replied graciously. "Kelly, I expected you home a while ago. I got a call from the principal." Surprisingly, she didn't sound angry at her daughter. Only slightly surprised. Danny was envious – he wished he could look forward to that sort of greeting when he arrived at his own house that night. It wasn't likely.

"Yeah," Kelly muttered absently.

"We'll talk about it later," Mrs Stager concluded before smiling widely. "Would you two like anything to eat? I've just finished cooking a batch of cookies. How about you kids take them up to your room?"

"Sure," Kelly grabbed the tray of cookies. "Thanks, mum."

"Anytime."

Kelly led Danny out of the kitchen and toward the staircase he had seen earlier. "I won't bother with a tour of the house," she told him as she began to climb the stairs. "For now, I'll just show you my bedroom. Sound fair?"

"Sure thing," Danny answered dreamily as they reached the top of the staircase. They turned to the left, the colour of the walls and carpet still the same. Danny glanced at the pictures that were hanging on the wall – there was one of Kelly when she was younger which he found absolutely adorable. There was a family portrait from possibly two years ago.

There were two males that Danny had yet to encounter standing in the photo. He assumed that they were her father and her older brother, whose names he did not know. She had only mentioned the fact that she'd moved from Wisconsin with an older brother and mother and father. _So if she moved from Wisconsin, does that mean that she knows who Vlad is,_ Danny considered the possibility.

Of course, she'd likely not know what he actually was, since Kelly-Go-Boom had mentioned that she was the only halfa in the entire world – which was wrong. Danny smiled to himself. She couldn't have possibly met Vlad before, though, since she had offered to shake his hand in the earlier fight and had sent a blast towards him. Any sane ghost would've flown away shrieking.

"Hey, Kelly, who's the friend?"

Danny looked up and recognised the guy from the photo. It was her older brother. He shared the same coloured hair and eyes that she did, but that was the only common appearance between the two. Where Kelly was of an average height, her brother was freakishly tall. He was also inspecting Danny.

"Oh, Danny this is my brother, Kevin. Kevin, this is Danny, a friend from school." Kelly introduced them.

Danny smiled warmly while his mind screamed, _just a friend!?_ He knew that they'd have to talk about this sometime when they were alone. Though it would've been reasonable to have talked about it when they were alone, together in the little area of forest, where they had stayed for almost three whole hours.

"Hey," Kevin greeted Danny before walking past him.

Danny didn't even bother to answer – Kevin would have been out of hearing distance and Danny would have seemed like a total fool in front of Kelly.

"Okay, well, this is my room." Kelly led him into a room at the end of the hallway.

Danny smiled as he entered. It was a bright red colour, brighter than her hair. There was a pale green feature wall that her bed was against. The bed was a double, with dark green blankets and red sheets. There were the usual posters on the wall and dressing tables all around. Nothing about her room gave off the hint that she was more than she seemed.

_Same with my bedroom._

"Awesome," Danny told her as he took a set on her bed. "You should see my room compared to this. It's so boring. It's just a pale blue all the way around. Even the bed is blue. At least you have an interesting pattern going on."

"Thanks," Kelly blushed as she received the compliment and sat down next to Danny. "Danny, is everything okay in your life? I mean, you seem to be in trouble _all_ the time."

Danny laughed. "Everything's as good as it will ever be. Trust me. I can deal with what's coming m way,"

He could tell from the way that Kelly and her mother had interacted in the kitchen that Kelly had told her about the ghost half. Danny was extremely curious about how she had come to be half ghost in the first place but it wouldn't be polite to ask… and it'd be pretty weird if he asked her while he was human.

"Cookie?" she offered him.

"Thanks," he said as he bit down into one.

* * *

Danny cringed as he walked up the front steps towards his house. His ghost sense was continually going off, but he knew who it was. Kelly was following him. She was curious as to how he lived life at home, or something. It was probably because she wanted to know _why_ a ghost and his vultures had been meeting with Danny.

He also knew that he would have to tell his parents about him being Danny Phantom. And he'd have to tell his new girlfriend. Danny smiled at that. He was ecstatic about the fact that she'd agreed to be his girlfriend. And he knew that he couldn't keep his secret from her much longer – it was just getting in the way.

His mother was getting suspicious and Danny couldn't keep making excuses about why he had skipped school or why he had forgotten that he was grounded. She would take nothing but the truth, and that's what he would tell her. Only he wouldn't tell her quite yet. He'd tell her another time.

While he had been at Kelly's house, she'd asked about his parents. She'd also asked if they had ghost detectors in their house, since they had the ghost portal and all. Danny had answered no, but he hadn't told her that the reason there were no ghost detectors was because he had turned them off. They only hindered him.

"You have a lot of explaining to do, young man."

His parents were standing at the door. It was as if they stood there for hours, waiting for him to trudge through. Either that or they could see him via the security cameras. _I have to get rid of those tapes._

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself?" Maddie asked expectantly. She had her arms crossed and a look of pure annoyance adorned her face.

"Nothing." Danny answered. It was the only thing he could come up with on such short notice.

"We got a call from the principal today, young man. She told us that you'd been tardy over one hundred and fifty times in the past year and a bit. She told us that when she'd pulled you out of class to talk about it, you went straight from her office and skipped school once again! And then, later in the day, we got another call from her."

Danny just waited patiently as his mother continued.

"It seems your classmate blew up at your English teacher, so you cause a distraction and skip school with this girl. And then, when the time comes for you to go home, you just happen to forget that you're grounded. Tell me Danny. What happened to you last year that made you change so much?" Maddie was upset now.

"Nothing." Danny hated answering like this.

"Well, until you have a proper answer for us, you can spend your time in your bedroom. And you're grounded until you tell us. And we will be watching you. We're even considering sending you to a psychiatrist, if not boarding school." Maddie warned him. "Anything more to say to us, Daniel Fenton?"

"No."

"Well go to your room. You are grounded from this moment on."

Danny obeyed her. He was planning on telling them on the weekend, but he'd have to try and follow their rules until then. Otherwise they might consider the psychiatrist option. But how would he tell them? And how would he tell Kelly? He shrugged his shoulders as he entered his room and shut the door behind him.

He could still feel Kelly's presence – in fact, she was in his very bedroom, with him.

"I know you're there," Danny said into the air mysteriously. "And I know who it is that I know is there."

There was no answer.

"Kelly-Go-Boom."

There was a slight gasp, but no answer. "You're wondering why you saw me speaking to Plasmius and his vulture goons earlier in school? You're wondering why it is that my parents are so angry at me, and what indeed has happened to me in the past year, aren't you?"

Still, no answer. But Danny was sure of himself. Kelly was definitely there. "And you're wondering how indeed I can sense you in my very bedroom, hovering just over my chair over there in the corner? Well. I'm afraid I have no answers for you."

"But you must," Kelly whispered as she turned visible. "I've never met someone like you."

"Yes you have," Danny countered with a smile. "But for now, I'd really like some privacy. I was thinking of having a shower."

"Sorry."

Danny grinned at her mysteriously. "You're lucky I turned off the ghost detectors a _long_ time ago. Perhaps it was a year ago. After all, that was when the Ghost Portal was successfully created."

Kelly just stared at him. "You're in league with ghosts?"

Danny laughed. "No way. But please, leave."

She nodded her head obediently. And for once, she did as she was told. She left him be.

Danny knew he had to slowly introduce her to the fact that he was half ghost, but he couldn't help messing with her head just a little bit. She would be up late thinking about Danny. After all, his knowledge of ghosts was amazing, as were his senses. But when he was around Kelly Stager, he acted like such a normal person.

Danny looked at the clock. It was only eight, and soon his parents or Jazz would probably come up with something for him to eat for dinner. But after that, he would be free to patrol. And there was no doubt that Sam wouldn't be able to make it.

He _would_ deal with that problem when he was given the chance. Even if he had to skip school – something terrible was being done to Sam, something that Plasmius knew about. And if Plasmius knew about it, or was involved in it, then it was something dangerous. Something deadly.

He had to save Sam before it was too late.

There was a knock on the door. "Danny, I've got your dinner. And I think we need to talk,"

It was Jazz.

* * *

**Yes, it is short. It was originally meant to have the next day in it, as well. But I didn't feel like writing that. I'll give that it's own chapter, because I've decided that something is going to happen in the next chapter, and interesting chapters should not be mixed with non-interesting chapters. Agreed? But as I mentioned at the top, you won't be able to find out what that is if you don't review. And this goes for all of my stories. I'll put up the second chapter of changing their fate but until it gets a review, no more. And I'll put up sam's chapter of Vortex of Destruction, but I need the review. Okay? No more updating. And when I do get the review, you get the chapter. Isn't it fair? It all works out.**

**Review and you'll get chapter 11.**

**The exciting chapter.  
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**Review.**

**Review.**

**Review.**

**And Review.**

**From an unappreciated little frog named Kirstyn.  
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	12. Blown Up

**Okay. Yeah, I lied.**

**I said that I wouldn't update this story until I got reviews, but I just couldn't help myself. So I officially bring you chapter eleven. And yay, I got everything I wanted in this chapter :) Hmm.. what's the next chapter about... Ohh it's the "interesting" chapter :) But I'm not sure if I'll get it all into one chapter, so it might not be the interesting chapter. But either way, it gets better from here on. Although I must admit that I do have a filler coming up... but it will be a NICE filler. Haha.**

**Please do reviews?  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Eleven**

**Blown Up**

* * *

"So now both you and Jazz know everything," Danny informed Tucker as they made their way towards the school. Sam, once again, had not shown up. It was becoming a regular occurrence and neither of them had even bothered to stop off at her house.

"So you and Kelly, huh?" Tucker nudged his friend and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

Danny stared at his best friend in disbelief. How could his friend be focusing on his relationship with Kelly at such a time? "Tucker, pay attention," he warned the other guy. "This is serious. We need to help Sam."

"But Kelly's waving to you!" Tucker cried, pointing towards the girl who was, in fact, waving to Danny.

Danny looked up, smiled shyly, and slowly waved back, as if he were uncomfortable greeting his girlfriend. He turned back to Tucker, a frown looming upon his face. "I don't care," he told his friend sincerely. "We have to think about Sam now. I mean, seriously. You cannot tell me that there's not something wrong with this scenario."

"I hear you," Tucker admitted. "Maybe we can stand guard outside her house?"

"You just want to peep in her window." Danny narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

Tucker looked horrified, but Danny knew that his friend was only putting on the act to try to lighten the mood. "Never," he gasped, mock-astounded. "But you have to admit, dude, that that is a pretty awesome idea."

"Yes, but the last few times I've been at her house, she hasn't." Danny pointed out.

"Good point," Tucker winked at a girl that neither he nor Danny knew as the two walked up the steep front steps of Casper High School. "But, if I might point out this good point as well. If we stand guard, we will see where she goes when she disappears. And that, there my friend, is my point."

"You just love to hear yourself talk," Danny scratched his chin as though deep in thought. "And to say the word point. We'll see. Maybe we can come up with something later on today."

"What're you guys talking about?" Kelly asked curiously as she caught up with them, a small smile on her face. Her cheeks were pink as she looked at Danny.

"Oh, nothing." Danny assured her as they headed towards the lockers. "So, um, what do we have first?"

"History."

Danny turned around in shock – standing behind him was the one and only, Sam Manson.

* * *

Maddie didn't know where she could search next. She had already gone through Danny's entire room – Jazz had left early in the morning so she could spend the day studying in the town library – as well as Jazz's. After all, she had to be suspicious of her daughter as well as Danny. After all, she knew that together they were keeping this secret from her and Jack.

Sam and Tucker were probably in on it too, but Maddie couldn't just ring their parents and demand that they allow her to search through their bedrooms. After all, she'd barely talked to Mrs Foley – they did have good conversations sometimes, but either one of them was always busy – but she knew for sure that she'd never be allowed in sight of the Manson Mansion. Mrs Manson had made that perfectly clear on more than one occasion.

The two things that she hadn't been able to gain access to were Danny's computer and Jazz's laptop. That was true until she had found a piece of paper in Jazz's bedroom that contained both of their passwords on it. Despite the simplicity of the two, Maddie had to admit that she'd never have guessed them.

_PaulinaFenton _and _TheSpooksters._

Maddie had been lucky that these passwords still worked – the date on the piece of paper had been over three months ago. The first password she could understand and knew instantly that it was Danny's – once he had been caught in the basement canoodling with one such Paulina, and Jack had forbidden him to see her ever again. The second password, Jasmine's password, was completely incomprehensible.

Maddie decided to check out Danny's computer first.

She started off in his documents. There were five subfolders – Pictures, Words, Music, Other, and School. She decided that she would start at the top and head down – she began searching his picture file. In this file, there were three more subfolders – Photos, Pictures and School. Maddie found nothing of interest in the Photos or the Pictures section and hesitated when it came to the school file – school was so harmless, why would there be anything secretive in there.

She doubled clicked and backed away from the computer with a gasp. Her son had photos of the infamous Danny Phantom on his computer, the ghost that was their family's sworn enemy. He was _worshipping_ this ghost! Maddie scrolled down and was even more horrified to see photos of Sam, Tucker, and even _Jazz_ with this ghost. But never did she find one of Danny with him.

"Could this be what they've been doing?" Maddie whispered to herself in horror. "Hanging out with ghosts? No wonder they don't want to tell me…"

Since she had found the jackpot in the file labelled "School" in Danny's pictures, Maddie instantly went to the other folder that was titled school. In the folder Maddie found information about ghosts that even she had not collected. There was even a file with Vlad's name on it, despite the fact that he was not a ghost. After all, they had visited him not long ago – and he had definitely been alive.

Maddie opened up the file and scanned through the information quickly – she could hear Jazz's car in the driveway, despite the fact that Jazz had told her that she'd be at the library for the whole day.

_Vlad Masters._

_Age: old_

_Type: half breed_

_Name: Plasmius_

_Status: Archenemy. Hunk of cheese._

"Mum, I'm home!" Jazz called out as she slammed the front door shut.

Maddie quickly logged off the computer.

* * *

"Where have you _been?_" Tucker shrieked as he spun to look at his friend.

Danny examined her for any slight change. She didn't look out of the ordinary. She wore her hair in the same style, her clothes were the same, and she even looked well rested. There was no sign of 'Vlad' and his work on Sam. In fact, she looked better than ever. This made Danny all the more suspicious.

"Oh, around and about," Sam shrugged. "But the bell just went. Hurry up or we'll be late!"

She left before any of the three could reply. Danny narrowed his eyes suspiciously and looked at Tucker – he had noticed the difference in Sam as well. Kelly, standing a distance away from the two boys was oblivious to the difference in Sam's behaviour, but not oblivious to the looks that Danny and Tucker shared.

"What is it?" She asked quietly as they slowly made their way towards their history class, the one class that they all shared.

"Sam is always late to class." Danny answered without looking at his girlfriend. "She hates to be early."

* * *

As always, Mr Lancer was standing up the front, blathering on about some unimportant historical fact. The four had taken seats in the back row – after Kelly's blow up yesterday and Danny's taking off with her, they didn't want to take any chances by being in the front row. Kelly and Sam sat on either side of Danny, and Tucker sat on the other side of Sam.

Danny leaned over to talk to Sam. He was going to get some answers from her – he wouldn't accept petty excuses like the ones he gave to his parents. "So, what's been up with you?"

Sam shot him an irritated look. "I'm trying to pay attention here. Important stuff is being said," she hissed. "And nothing's been up."

Danny raised an eyebrow. Important stuff, huh? "Sam, you yourself told me that nothing that came out of Lancer's lips was worth listening to. And you can't just blow me off by saying that nothing's been up. Because trust me, I know more than you may think."

Sam just stared at him.

"Such as the fact that Vlad is involved." Danny persisted.

Sam shot him a look that was known as her death stare. Danny shifted uncomfortably in his seat but he didn't back down. "You should just be relieved that I am back." She spat distastefully at him.

"See, this is a perfect example. So, where were you? And what were you doing?"

"Leave me alone Danny Fenton," Sam was growling and her unusually pale face was turning an unhealthy shade of red.

"No. I am your friend, and I care about you. I won't stop until I help you." Danny leaned closer to her face to show her that he was serious.

Sam's face was like a faulty kettle – it heated up, boiled, and then exploded. Sam drew back her hand and bared her teeth at Danny. Before he could react or pull away, her hand met his face and a loud _whack_ was heard – Sam had slapped Danny right across the face.

"You are nothing," she whispered angrily so quietly that only he heard.

"Miss Manson, Mr Fenton, fighting in my classroom of learning? I don't think so! Both of you, to the principal's office _right_ now. And I'll have the trusty Mr Baxter escort you so that you don't try anything funny, like yesterday," Lancer growled.

Sam was already out of the door by the time Danny had stood up in his seat. Dash's eyes trailed after Sam and then he turned to face Danny with a smirk. Danny reluctantly followed Dash out of the door – he knew that the jock was planning on tormenting him somehow on the way to the principal's office.

"What, did you and your girlfriend have a fight?" Dash asked in a whiney voice.

"Sam's not my girlfriend."

Dash smiled to himself. "So she got jealous because Kelly is."

"No." Danny answered curtly, unusually happy to see the door to the principal's office. Sam was already standing there, waiting for someone to open the door.

Dash walked over and knocked impatiently. The door was opened only seconds later by the short Asian figure of Principal Ishiyama. She looked briefly at the three of them before turning around.

"Miss Samantha Manson, Mr Daniel Fenton, I'd like to have a word with you. Mr Baxter, you may return to your class." Principal Ishiyama instructed them calmly.

Danny and Sam obeyed. Inside the office were now two hard plastic blue chairs, instead of one. She had been expecting them, obviously. Mr Lancer would've made a phone call to her straight away, explaining the reason for them being sent to her office and making sure that they would show up. It was a standard procedure.

"I would like you two to take these seats and wait patiently while I deliver phone calls to both of your parents. And if I come back and you two have been fighting, my, you'll be in a whole lot of trouble."

As soon as the principal had left the room, Danny turned to look at Sam. With a jolt of surprise, he realised that she was no longer there. Somehow, she had disappeared between the time that Principal Ishiyama had left the room and the time that Danny had looked at her. That had been about one second, and Danny knew for sure that _no_ human being could move at such a speed.

He shrugged – he wasn't about to be caught out by himself - and transformed into Danny Phantom. If Principal Ishiyama had walked in on Danny by himself, she would question him about how Sam possibly could have left through a locked door. He wouldn't be able to supply her with a satisfactory answer. He just prayed to whatever entity was listening that the school didn't have security cameras. Otherwise he'd have to break in and delete _those_ tapes as well as the ones from his own house.

He turned himself intangible and flew straight to the top of the school. Although he could smell something funny, Danny did not want to look back on the school he was leaving once again, and he certainly didn't want to stay there for much longer. He sped off at a reasonable speed – the speed at which a human could run – and searched the streets surrounding the school for Sam. She was nowhere to be seen.

After about ten minutes of searching, Danny examined his surroundings. He was five blocks away from the school – he wouldn't be caught skipping school from this distance away. He spotted a suspicious looking alleyway and dove into it. Just as he'd expected, there had been no one here – people seemed to be scared off by these dark alleyways that led to nowhere.

Danny transformed back into Danny Fenton. He brushed his clothes down – they had acquired some dust from an unknown place – and walked out of the alleyway as calmly as he could. He had to pretend that he was supposed to be there.

"Danny!"

He jerked around in surprise – so much for not getting caught skipping – and found himself looking at the jogging figures of Kelly and Valerie. They seemed to be distressed, though he didn't know why. What he also didn't know was why they weren't at school, especially after _Valerie_ had patronised him yesterday.

"What are you _doing_?" Kelly screeched as she dragged Danny back into the alley. Valerie followed, looking from left to right as if checking to see if there were any witnesses.

"What?" Danny asked as his body hit the hard, brick walled building.

"The police are looking for you," Kelly panted.

* * *

Sam looked down at her blackened hands, confused as to the reason she had acted the way she had. It was as if she had no control of her body. She began to sob helplessly, the tears wiping the soot and ashes from her pale white hands.

* * *

**Yeah, I understand that at the moment, you don't quite understand. I mean, come on, what the hell? Sam has blackened hands? But it'll all be made clear in the next chapter. Okay, now that that's done, I'm on to updating Vortex of Deception. Luckily, I have a plan for that story now. so it should be easier to write. And once that is done, I want to watch TV and have something to eat, practise my guitar, come back and perhaps I'll write the next chapter of changing their fate. All I know is that I once again need Steph's help. She's so good at emotional :D**

**Hope you're having fun with your Essay my Stephasaur! (New nickname for the day)**

**I was going to say Stephalopolis, but you wouldn't understand...**

**Love from the one who has a sore neck :)  
**


	13. Lying Low Well, Trying To

**Here we are, a nice little short chapter. If I didn't have to go to work in about twenty minutes, I would've made it a bit longer. But I have to have something to eat and get dressed for work, so I don't have time. But I hope this is satisfactory. I got everything that I wanted in there, though I was a bit sketchy in some places. The next chapter was originally meant to be a filler, but I decided to make it slightly interesting. And when you get to the end of this chapter, you might discover why. And Steph. If you can, try to look at Changing Their Fate?  
People, I have the next chapter of Changing Their Fate written up! It just needs editing. But I will have it up by tonight since Steph doesn't have to edit it all. **

**Enjoy the chapter, people.  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twelve**

**Lying Low… Well Trying To.**

* * *

"The police?" Danny whispered uncertainly.

"That's right," Valerie answered moodily. "So what the hell were you thinking, leaving the school like that?"

Danny looked from one girl to the other. They hadn't explained why _they_ weren't at school and why the _police _were _looking for him._ Compared to those two issues, he thought that his leaving the principal's office after Sam had was minor and unimportant.

"Um, hello?" Danny shrieked. "I'm kind of wanting to know why the police are after me! I think that's a little bit more important than why I left the principal's office."

Kelly and Valerie shared a look. Kelly raised her eyebrows and Valerie smiled – Danny knew they were using expressions as a code but he found that he could not read them. Perhaps that was the point of their code. Kelly turned to him anxiously and he found himself mesmerised by her glowing green eyes.

"Danny, the police are after you _because_ you left the principal's office." Kelly informed him.

Danny raised an eyebrow in disbelief. "The principal called the police for _that_?"

Valerie stood up and decided that she wanted to tell the story. "No, you idiot. We're not entirely sure of the whole story, but we know a little bit because people explained to us. You and Sam were found missing from the principal's office. Where is Sam, by the way?" Danny shrugged and indicated that she should continue. "Whatever. Anyway, so only minutes later, there was smoke. Principal Ishiyama walked into her office and it was on fire. So were all of the toilets. You and Sam are the number one suspects."

"Wasn't me," Danny assured them. "I could never walk _or_ run that fast. But Sam… it had to be her. Something weird is going on with her. Listen, guys, I'm only telling you this because I think you might have a chance of helping me figure this out, but when I was in the principal's office, Sam just disappeared. I didn't even see it happen. And she did it in less than a second. Now I may be no expert on these things, though I suppose I probably should be considering my parents are paranormal freaks, but what Sam did a human definitely could not. She left the room somehow, even though both the door and window were locked."

Kelly and Valerie both frowned. Though Danny was the only one who knew it, these two had a lot in common – they both hunted ghosts. If anyone could solve this problem, it was them. Though technically speaking, he had been in the business for much longer and his parents _did_ continuously rattle on about ghosts… but they may have heard different things.

"Maybe she's under the power of a ghost." Kelly suggested slowly.

"Mind control," Valerie agreed as though she were clueless when it came to ghosts.

"Yeah, that's probably it… though I don't know _how_ it explains her being able to _walk through walls._" Danny objected.

"Maybe, somehow, she miraculously obtained ghost powers. Maybe she's a _ghost._" Kelly didn't believe the words that came out of her mouth. Danny assumed it was because Kelly had a suspicion that Sam was half ghost. Danny knew that she wasn't.

"No, that's not what happened." He said certainly.

Kelly narrowed her eyes suspiciously. After all, she'd been trying to find out more about Danny Fenton for the past day. "And why do you sound so certain?"

"Because I know!" Danny cried out wearily. "Sam's not a ghost. Just trust me on this one, okay?"

Even Danny himself couldn't explain how or why he knew that Sam wasn't half ghost. Valerie assumed that they were still speaking of full ghosts. "Yeah, I mean, I'm sure we would've noticed if someone in our class was a ghost."

Danny's eyes met Kelly's and he gave her a friendly smile. She widened her eyes at him – she was considering the possibility of Danny knowing her secret and knowing all about half ghosts. It would explain everything suspicious that had recently occurred around this one boy. Danny raised his eyebrows and flashed her a wide, toothy smile. Her face went pale as it was confirmed. Danny knew about her ghost powers.

"Guys?" Valerie had been watching their silent conversation in confusion.

"I have to go," Danny excused himself, his eyes still on Kelly. "You know, hang low and all that junk. Bye!"

He jogged away as Valerie jumped out of the alleyway. "Wait!" She screamed as he continued to depart. "You never explained why you left in the first place, or _how_ you left!"

But Danny was gone.

* * *

When he was at a distance where Kelly's ghost sense wouldn't pick him up, Danny transformed into Danny Phantom. What better way to lie low than to disappear off the face of the earth? Because that's practically what happened when he transformed into his ghostly self. The human inside him just disappeared for a brief period of time.

He considered the different ways that he could possibly spend the next few hours as Danny Phantom. He could always disguise himself as someone else and just do normal things. He could always try and find Tucker or even Sam and find out what was really going on. But he knew one thing – he couldn't go home. If he went home _at all_, his parents would kill him. He would be forced to tell them his secret – and he wasn't quite ready yet.

They wouldn't be able to reach him due to the fact that he had smashed his cell phone in anger the previous day. They would freak out. They didn't deserve to be treated as such. Danny would have to either 'borrow' a phone from someone or use some of his lunch money to call his house with a payphone. The latter was the easiest option.

There were payphones scattered all over Amity Park, though a lot of them weren't used and the council were planning on shutting them down and removing them. It just cost way too much to keep them maintained. After all, they were ruined daily by ghosts.

"_Hello?"_

Luckily, it was Jazz on the other end of the phone. At least he could explain what had _actually _happened. "Hey, Jazz, it's me."

"_Danny!?" _she shrieked.

"Who else? Listen, I didn't start that fire. I know who did. But I'm going to need to hang low for a while. If mum and dad worry, tell them I'm staying at a friend's house." Danny instructed her.

"_What will I say if they ask what friend's house you're staying at so they can call?"_

"Just tell them the truth – I didn't mention the specifics. Look, it's about to hang up on me. I'll see you later, okay?"

"_Wait… where's _your_ phone?"_

The pay phone beeped and an automated message came through the receiver.

* * *

So there was nothing at all for a ghost teenager to do in Amity Park. Danny couldn't understand why ghosts would haunt this place at all. It was so boring for ghosts – they couldn't do anything. But maybe after being stuck in the Ghost Zone for so long, this was like a paradise to all of those havoc reaping full ghosts. Danny knew which place he'd rather be in any day.

But he had two choices – stay out of sight or risk the chance of being hunted by one Valerie Gray. Or perhaps his parents. He would rather it be the latter – they had less of a chance at catching him than his school friend. Danny knew that sounded pathetic – his parents had had twenty years of experience while Valerie had only started a year ago – but it was the rock hard truth.

He decided that he'd stay out of sight for the time being. After all, he planned on staying away from humanity until the next day.

"Should I go to school or not?" Danny asked himself as he explored alleyways. There were no traces of humans here – only rats. There were old, soggy cardboard boxes and crates lined up along the walls but the shops inside were abandoned. He was surprised that no one had jumped at the chance of starting a new business. He knew if he had had the money, he would've started a doughnut store.

The problem with going to school would be that he wouldn't know what would happen to him. He would obviously be accused of starting the fire and he wouldn't be able to tell them the truth – that Sam was the one who had started the fires. After all, he couldn't just betray a friend of his like that. But he didn't see any way out of his situation. Once Sam was back to normal, she'd have to take the blame. And chances were that she'd get expelled, and her parents would send her away to boarding school. That wasn't a very bright prospect.

Danny knew that he wouldn't be able to come up with a solution to his problems at the current moment in time. He knew that if he decided to go to school tomorrow he was likely to change his mind when the time came. So therefore he wouldn't make any decisions. He would just remain hidden in this quiet little alleyway.

"It is you."

Danny turned around to face Kelly-Go-Boom. "Huh?"

Kelly wasn't in a very happy mood, and neither was Danny. They both had things on their mind. "I could sense your presence, making your way around."

"Oh," Danny looked down at a box in front of him. "I apologise."

"This town is stranger than I had ever expected it to be," Kelly confided in him as she took a seat upon one of the crates. "Things have just been happening so fast."

"Tell me about it," Danny muttered. He took a seat next to Kelly-Go-Boom. He realised with a shock that he hadn't noticed her presence behind him earlier, despite his sensitive senses.

"What problems would a ghost like you have?" Kelly looked at him curiously. "After all, most ghosts spend their entire afterlife terrorizing innocent humans or doing nothing. Ghost's don't have problems."

"I'm not like other ghosts," Danny replied honestly.

"Neither," Kelly laughed dryly. "But of course, you already knew that."

"Daniel."

Both Danny and Kelly looked up to see Vlad Plasmius floating in the entrance to the alley, blocking off all light that had been entering from that direction. Danny glanced at Kelly out of the corner of his eye and knew that she recognised him from the three times that she had encountered him.

"Plasmius," Danny sounded resigned. "What do you want?"

"What a touching scene, a ghost and a half ghost sitting down and talking like humans. It is pitiful," Luckily Vlad hadn't discovered that Kelly-Go-Boom was also half ghost – it made Danny's secret just that little bit easier to keep.

"What of it?" Kelly growled, balling her hands into fists.

"Oh, nothing, don't have to get _feisty _my dear," Vlad laughed. "I have only come for Daniel."

"What is it going to be this time?" Danny jumped straight to the point – when it came to Vlad, Danny didn't like small talk.

"You saw what happened today," Vlad gestured towards the nearby school, where fire trucks were still lingering in case of a still-burning fire. "It has only just begun."

"So you _are_ behind all of this." Danny concluded.

"Join me, and no one will ever be hurt again."

Danny laughed. "Okay, seriously. You tell me if I join you, no one will ever be hurt again. But the reason you want me to join you is so I can help you hurt people. It doesn't work that way, Plasmius."

Vlad narrowed his eyes at the youth. "You should not talk like such to those superior to you." He warned Danny testily.

"What if I told you that the reason I speak like such to you is because you are not superior?" Danny growled as he stood up. He had heard enough nonsense from Vlad – now he would get some answers. "What have you done to Sam?"

"Why, nothing!" Vlad lied cheerfully.

"Is it some sort of ghost virus? Are you getting strategies from Spectra, now?"

This made Vlad angry. He had a very small temper. Both he and Danny had forgotten that KGB still sat down, eavesdropping eagerly. "Do you think that I am so _pathetic_ that I need such weak ghosts to assist me in my causes?"

"Well, you used Skulker." Danny pointed out.

"Skulker was an exception. I was too important to do such petty errands." Vlad explained with a shrug.

"So I'm not wrong when I say that you're going to give me no answers at all?" Danny asked, not wanting to see Vlad's ugly face for much longer.

"You are not wrong." Vlad confirmed.

"KGB," Danny called without taking his eyes away from the elderly ghost's face. "I'd step behind me if I were you."

Kelly hurried to obey as Danny opened his mouth. Vlad smirked – he assumed that Danny was planning on attacking weakly and was sure that he could easily block the blast. Danny sucked in a deep breath – and then let it out in a piercing wail.

It was his ghostly wail.

Vlad's body vanished after the sound had stopped – he had had enough power to teleport himself to another place after the assault. Unfortunately, Danny was not so lucky. He grew dizzy as he felt the bright ring appear around his waist, waiting eagerly to change him back into Danny Fenton, right in front of Kelly.

* * *

**Reviews people?**

**And dun dun dun! **

**Okay, my back and my foot hurt so this is not going to be a very long author's little comment. And I haven't eaten anything at all today. My my am I hungry. I want some cordial and... some... maple syrup yum yum! Okay, well, I hope it was an alright chapter. I couldn't be bothered editing as always, and I couldn't be bothered going through it to see if I could improve it.**

**So just to touch up on the little details you may have missed.  
1. Kelly knows that Danny knows about her**

**2. Danny knows that Kelly knows that Danny knows about her.**

**And that's about all that you might not have realised. Though I'm pretty sure I made it clear.**

**So. Good day people! Vortex of Deception is next. In... 6 hours, perhaps?**

**Love from an aching little child who is sitting with My Little Vampire Elf. Duende is the word for Elf in some language that I don't know :):)  
**


	14. Under The Stars

**Here we are, chapter thirteen - my filler chapter! I might put another one in. This didn't turn out how I wanted (as always) but it's fine. I had originally planned for this to be like totally different. Okay, I have to get ready for work reaaaally soon so I'll keep it short.**

**I'm looking forward to your reviews. So submit them.  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Under the Stars**

* * *

"Stop!" Danny muttered to himself.

Fortunately, the rings had disappeared and he remained in his ghost form. But Kelly had seen enough – she knew his secret. She stared incredulously at him as he dusted himself off and whistled slightly. He didn't have enough power to retain his ghost form for much longer – any time now he was going to revert to Danny Fenton despite how hard he tried to stop that from occurring. He knew he had to tell Kelly, and soon, but now was not the time. He would rather it be a time when he could actually sit down and discuss things with her.

Kelly woke up from her shock. "You're… half ghost?" She whispered.

"Really?" Danny gasped in mock-shock. "Oh, gosh, I'd better get that fixed."

He began to run away, directly out into the street. Kelly followed after him as he jumped into the air, trying to fly. He came straight back down again and into the path of an incoming truck. _I can't fly_, his disbelief was strong. But his panic was even stronger – there was a truck coming right for him and he couldn't even use his powers.

He cringed as the truck sped onwards, not even seeing the ghost teen lying right in the middle of the road. Either he didn't see Danny, or he didn't particularly care. Danny wasn't sure which one it was. He felt two hands touch him as the truck made impact with his body.

Except it didn't. It passed right through him harmlessly. It was because Kelly had taken it upon herself to save him – she had turned him intangible just in time.

Danny hastily got to his feet, feeling his head growing light and fuzzy. "Uh, thanks," he muttered. He knew that he was about to faint and he knew that Kelly was going to see who he really was, and possibly a whole lot of other people would see but Danny couldn't find the energy to care. He shut his eyes sleepily as he heard someone shout from the side of the street.

"I got you now, ghost boy!"

* * *

Tucker replaced the lid on the Fenton Thermos hastily. He could feel it rattling as Danny became human and felt sympathy for his friend – it sure wasn't comfortable in that small space, especially for a human. But Tucker had had to suck Danny into the Fenton Thermos – his secret had almost been revealed. But Kelly had seen him and was now suspicious.

"What did you just _do_? And why are you hunting _ghosts_?" Kelly-Go-Boom screamed from the middle of the road.

"Uh, I have to get the money from _somewhere_," he lied. "After all, Danny's parents pay good money for me to just walk the streets. And now that I got Danny Phantom, well, I'm sure I'll be getting a pay rise."

"But he's only half ghost! He's human as well!" Kelly protested as she flew towards him in anger.

"Uh, what? Human?" Tucker stuttered uncertainly, backing away. As far as he knew, Danny had never told Kelly about his human half, or his ghost half for that matter. Unless something had occurred between the two of them that Danny had not had time to tell him of.

It was lucky that Tucker had happened to be looking for Danny at the same time as Kelly had spotted him. He had been using a little tracking chip that he had installed into Danny's Fenton Phones because he carried those with him everywhere. Well, most of the time he did – they went everywhere with his ghost half at least.

"You're friends with those ghost hunters, you should know all about it." KGB replied curtly.

"No… I have no idea what you're talking about…" Tucker muttered before glancing at the rattling Fenton Thermos. "Ah, seems he's trying to escape. Better get him back to the Fenton's. Beware – I only have one Thermos at the moment. But next time I see you, you're coming in for testing as well."

He ran away, in the direction of Fenton Works, although he was planning on briefly stopping for a chat with Danny. He wasn't actually going to deliver him into his parents hands.

Kelly watched Tucker retreat before her eyes went to his Fenton Thermos suspiciously. He had seen that thing three times – once, Danny Phantom was using it, another time Danny Fenton was using it, and the last time it was with Tucker Foley. She knew there was some suspicious connection between the three.

* * *

Tucker pressed the release button on the Fenton Thermos. There was a loud whoosh of air as Danny Fenton toppled out and landed painfully on the ground. They were in the middle of an empty park not far from Tucker's house that hadn't seen a visitor in many years. It was known to be haunted by ghosts – but Danny had never had to deal with any ghosts their so it was proclaimed safe by the three.

"Thanks, Tuck." Danny groaned as he clutched his throbbing head. The Fenton Thermos always gave him the worst headaches, not to mention the strain it put on his growing limbs. "I almost fainted back there."

"Yeah, you're lucky I'd been looking for you to ask you what had happened back at the school. But I have something more important to ask you – and don't think that means that sometime in the near future I won't ask you about the school." Tucker informed him sternly. "What I want to ask you is, how does Kelly know about you being a h-a-l-f-a?"

Danny moaned as he sat up and leaned against a rotting bench. "There are two words that can answer your question," he told his friend. "Ghostly Wail."

"What?" Tucker was horrified. "You used your ghostly wail on your _girlfriend_?"

Danny shook his head grumpily. "No, Tucker, you idiot. Vlad showed up. He confirmed all of our suspicions – he's behind the Sam thing. And tomorrow, when we see Sam we're going to have to hold her hostage or something until she tells us the truth. We have to get to the bottom of this and sort out all of our problems as soon as we can."

"Dude, are you okay?" Tucker asked as Danny wriggled around in pain.

"Mm," Danny muttered.

* * *

Kelly had been smart enough to follow Tucker back to Fenton Works. She had transformed – he would likely have had a ghost detector on him – and had kept a distance away from him as he jogged down the darkening streets. The sun was beginning to go down.

But Tucker had not gone directly to Fenton Works. He had taken a side street towards a path of grass surrounded by trees and a wire fence. Kelly assumed that it was a park but the unfriendly appearance hinted that it didn't get used anymore. _Does he know that I am trailing him? Is he trying to lose me?_

While she was inspecting her surroundings, Tucker seemed to vanish from sight. After a few minutes of close inspection, she realised that he must have crawled through a small hole in the wire fence, and into the park itself. She took a deep breath – she had ghost powers after all, and could deal with whatever came at her – and bent onto all fours.

As she crawled through the sharp bushes and twigs she reminded herself that Tucker could have completely disappeared by the time that she emerged from these painful bushes. She hesitated slightly as she thought of this and then mentally whacked herself in the head. She had ghost powers – why didn't she just turn herself intangible? She could've done that a long time ago when Tucker had first disappeared through the hole in the fence.

She stood up and brushed the leaf litter from her clothes. The sky was getting grey, meaning that she would be expected home some time soon. But her parents would understand if she were late – after all, they knew all about her ghost powers and would just assume that the reason she hadn't come home on time was because of a ghost attack. But that didn't mean that they didn't worry about her – they always worried.

She looked into the distance and spotted two figures near a bench. One was slumped over as if in pain while the other was standing up. Even at this distance Kelly could recognise them – the one standing up was Tucker Foley while the one in pain was Danny Fenton. She hadn't seen him since he had disappeared earlier in the day, straight after the school had been set on fire.

So had Tucker and Danny arranged this meeting beforehand, or did they have some sort of communication devices? Was Tucker handing Danny Phantom over to Danny Fenton? After all, the Thermos was on the floor beside Danny and the cap was off.

_The cap was off? That means…_ Kelly gasped. Tucker had freed Danny Phantom! But for what purpose? Had he known that he was half ghost and that he was about to faint? Had he known that when he fainted, Danny Phantom would revert to his human form?

"Nah, Tucker's not that good a liar." Kelly whispered uncertainly. After all, she didn't know him so well so how could she be the judge of such a thing?

Kelly saw Danny clutch his head in pain and ran towards the two anxiously. She would question him later –for now she was just concerned for his well being.

* * *

Valerie let herself into her dark apartment building quietly. Her dad was out late at work and she would be home alone for the evening. She had arrived at home later than usual – despite being let out of school just before recess – and would have to cook herself dinner. She didn't have enough spending money to order herself take-out.

She plopped her keys down on the kitchen bench and turned on the overhead light. She wasn't exactly hungry yet so she decided that she'd sit down and read the paper before making herself a pasta dinner. Her dad always purchased the newspaper before he went to work and left it for her to read on the kitchen table.

She took one glance at the front page and growled angrily. It was some article about Danny Phantom's different sides. She hated the idea that Danny Phantom could be schizophrenic or that he could even have a good side to him. She knew that he was evil, and that's all there was to it. He was a strange ghost, at that.

_Speaking of strange people…_ Danny Fenton's face popped into her mind. She shook her head in anger. She had once had a crush on him and had competed with Sam for his affections, but those days were no longer. She had gotten over her crush and had been observing him quite closely for the past couple of weeks. He seemed to have very suspicious behaviour.

Such as the whole skipping thing. Valerie knew that there was more than meets the eye when it came to Danny, and she was going to figure it out. She didn't know how long it would take, but she would find out what was going on with Danny Fenton. All she knew was that it was something to do with ghosts.

The phone began to ring, shocking Valerie out of her thoughts. She picked the phone up and spoke into the handset. "Hello?"

"_Hello, Miss Valerie Gray, this is Principal Ishiyama."_

* * *

Danny heard footsteps approaching him and Tucker and looked up slowly. He was surprised to see Kelly running towards him in her human form – was it possible that she had followed Tucker and had seen Danny come out of the Thermos? Well, he would find out soon enough.

"Danny," she panted as she reached him – it seemed she had been running for quite a while. "Are you okay? You look like you're in pain."

Danny laughed as Tucker raised an eyebrow. "I'm fine," he whispered in relief – if Kelly had found out about him, she would've brought it up straight away. Or at least he assumed that is what she would do.

"I'll just be leaving," Tucker excused himself and took the Fenton Thermos with him.

Kelly took a seat next to Danny and cuddled up close to him. She looked up to the sky as the stars began show themselves. She sighed and smiled – back in Wisconsin she had never been able to see the stars as clearly. "It's beautiful," she breathed ecstatically.

"Yes," Danny agreed, but when Kelly looked at him she saw that his eyes were closed.

"This town," Kelly began hesitantly. "It's not quite what I expected it to be. And I've only been here for a few days."

"Yeah, it's a strange town." Danny muttered.

Kelly took a deep breath and looked at her boyfriend although he could not see her. She stared at his eyelids and prepared herself for the confrontation.

"You know what I am, don't you?" She asked him in a whisper.

* * *

**I can't believe this chapter is over 2,000 words. It's so short. AHH IT CUT OFF THE LAST SENTENCE. Okay. That's better. Now. Reviews? I have to go to work very quickly. I'll start on Changing Their Fate tonight, and if I get bored of that I'll write Vortex of Deception tonight. But I aim to have Changing Their Fate Chapter Five up by tomorrow, since I will be going somewhere for three days :) And I'll have chapter 14 up of this perhaps. But you may hate me for it, because I plan on leaving the biggest cliffhanger :D And I'll do it with chapter 15 too, if all goes according to plan.**

**Well, gotta go!**

**BYE! Kirstyntness!  
**


	15. Into The Ghost Zone

**Okay. So I lied once again. This isn't the cliffhanger I had wanted it to be. I didn't get everything I wanted into this chapter, and instead decided to split it in two. And so you'll get the next chapter, the cliffhanger chapter, in 50 hours-ish. A bit more. Probably a lot more. But still. So here is your chapter oh people, here is your chapter. I've discovered that this is the story that I write easiest, and that I like writing the most. So that's why I've updated this story today and not my other two. I'll write a chapter for them later. But anyway, I should probably go soon. Gotta pack my bags and go to work :) I hope you enjoy the chapter. From this point on, it gets a lot more intense. And if you have read Not Just A Date, from this point on it is completely different.**

**Enjoy! And REVIEW :D  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Into The Ghost Zone**

* * *

Danny smiled at Kelly as he debated with himself over whether he should tell her the truth now or stall until he felt like telling her. Which would be later. He decided to go with later – after all, he wanted everything to be explained at the same time, and he just didn't have the patience for that now. He also didn't have the patience for the truth to be told in tiny chunks.

"Yes," he whispered playfully. "You're a very foolish girl." He leaned in and placed a small, quick kiss upon her lips.

"Danny…" she could guess that he was stalling – it was obvious.

Danny looked into the sparkling emerald green orbs that were here eyes and decided that he would be serious for a change. "We'll discuss it tomorrow, after school, then."

Kelly began to smile before she realised something. "I don't think there _will_ be school tomorrow, what with those fires that started and all…" Kelly reminded him, sounding slightly uncertain. "Why not now?"

He avoided her gaze as if he were guilty of something. "The school will be open. It always is, no matter how big the damage is. Even if someone bombed the place, we'd still have to go to school. You'll see. And I'm _kind of_ in the middle of something at the moment… sorry," He apologised evasively.

"Oh…" Kelly looked to her shoes and grimaced. They were soaked through and would take a while to dry. "Well, tomorrow it is, then."

"Tomorrow," Danny confirmed.

He didn't give her a farewell kiss but instead slowly stood up and turned away from her. He began to walk away, ignoring the pain that he was feeling all throughout his body. Or at least, he was trying to ignore it. He muttered a slight curse as his thighs began to hurt.

When he had reached the wire fence on the opposite side of the park, he heard something and stopped to listen. Kelly was shouting to him. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard on her words – her voice was small and couldn't project well over such a large distance.

"There's more to you than meets the eye, Danny Fenton," she called from the other side of the park. "And I've got a pretty good idea of what it is!"

Danny left without turning back.

* * *

"Principal Ishiyama!" Valerie cried out in shock.

"_Listen, Miss Gray, I've been told quite a bit about you, dear,_" Principal Ishiyama informed the bewildered girl. "_Such as your past times. Let's say how you, uh, hunt ghosts?_"

Valerie almost dropped the phone in astonishment. The only two people who knew of her secret – that she hunted ghosts – were her father and Mr Masters, who had supplied her with the ghost hunting gear in the first place. How would her principal have possibly found out about that part of her life when she was so careful to keep it secret?

"What?" Valerie shrieked.

"_Don't worry Miss Gray, your secret is safe with me_," The principal assured her in a rush. "_But the reason I am calling you is because I was wondering if you were interested in doing a little job for me_."

"A job?" Valerie had gotten over the shock and was now curious. "What kind of job did you have in mind?"

"_Just something very simple. It seems that there have been many ghosts vandalising the school and harming the local citizens who wander about outside. This only happens between four and seven, after school hours_." Ishiyama explained briefly. "_I was wondering if you would be interested in manning the security cameras and driving away any rogue ghosts that are loitering about_."

"What will you pay me?" Valerie demanded.

"Fifteen an hour and thirty-five per ghost that you manage to successfully drive away." Ishiyama suggested.

"I'll do it."

* * *

While Danny and Kelly had been talking, he had remembered that he still needed to destroy the security tapes from his house that had caught him transforming into his ghost self. He had also remembered that the school had had security cameras installed in the school only half a year ago. Those tapes would need to be deleted as well.

"And what better time than the present?" Danny muttered to himself as he landed on the roof of the school.

_Maybe, if I'm lucky, the fire may have destroyed some cameras. For now, at least. But I'm not usually lucky._

And it seemed that, to no surprise, this time he wasn't lucky. All the security cameras were perfectly intact and working fine. Thankfully the school didn't have any ghost detectors – yet. They had recently contacted his parents and had enquired about getting a ghost detector installed. Their parents were eager to do business with principal Ishiyama, who was looking for funds.

Danny flew straight for the office – invisibly of course – because that was where they were most likely to keep the security tapes. He surveyed the damage done to the school by the fire on his way towards the office and whistled. The toilets were all taped off and out of bounds but it seemed the fire had not strayed from them and into the hall. When Danny reached the main office he saw that it too was out of bounds.

He flew past the tape and into the office. Despite the fact that he had had ghost powers for at least a year, Danny had never snuck into the office to check out permanent records or anything. He hadn't even felt curious. So now when the time came, he didn't know where he was going.

"I guess I better start from the top." He told himself as he landed on the floor, still invisible.

The first door was on his left and contained a small conference room. He could tell that it was a conference room because of the television shows that he'd watched that had contained rooms that appeared as such. There was a large, circular table and many cushioned chairs clustered around it.

He closed the door and moved onto the next. It had files and random papers stored inside, but no video tapes. The next two rooms were the same – they contained different things but Danny couldn't glimpse a video tape anywhere. He even found a room that contained school uniforms – and his school didn't even have a set uniform!

He opened the last door with bated breath and peered inside. Success! There were monitors all around the room, showing him what was occurring within and without the school. For some reason, there was a camera that looked into Mr Lancer's bathroom. He was taking a bubble bath and playing with a rubber duck.

Danny winced and turned away from that screen – he would have nightmares about that, and the fact that there was a camera in Lancer's _bathroom_ for many years to come. But he found what he had come in search for – the video tapes. They were stacked in piles and dated.

"I'll just go and delete them all… but maybe I'll take a look at the ones from today. After all, they may tell me something about Sam." Danny muttered to himself. Luckily, he had thought to bring a backpack.

He placed the ones from earlier that day into his backpack before shooting an ice blast towards the video tapes. The ice blast was soon followed by an ecto-beam that caused the ice to shatter and the shards to go in all directions. The video tapes wouldn't be able to be restored, ever.

"Now, it's time to go home," Danny smiled. "But unobtrusively."

* * *

Danny woke up the next morning, exhausted. His body still ached from being held in the Fenton Thermos for that short time as a human. His parents hadn't discovered that he'd come home yet – otherwise they would have woken him up and demanded an explanation no matter what the hour would have been. He hoped that they still believed his 'staying at a friend's house' lie that he'd asked Jazz to tell them.

Danny looked at the alarm clock. He was due to arrive at school in but five minutes. He would only just have enough time to throw some clothes on and brush his teeth if he sped to school as Danny Phantom. He just hoped that Kelly wasn't spying on him, or anything. After all, he could sense her ghost form but not her human form.

Danny threw his usual red and white shirt on and pulled on a new pair of jeans before sticking his toothbrush into his mouth. He scrubbed his teeth vigorously before sliding his feet into white socks. He rinsed his mouth out in the sink as quietly as he could so as to not alert his parents to his presence before slipping his feet into his shoes.

With a quick whispered sentence, Danny was off.

* * *

It was lunch time, and nothing out of the ordinary had occurred – yet. Kelly and Danny treated each other as if they were both normal humans and didn't suspect the other of doing anything suspicious. But they both acknowledged the fact that they would definitely be speaking after school. Sam once again hadn't shown up and the teachers were treating Danny as if he had confessed to setting the school on fire. But that was all to be expected.

Danny took a seat at their usual lunch table and found that only Valerie was there – Tucker and Kelly must have been kept in for some reason. After all, they had just shared a class together. "Hey, Val," Danny greeted his friend with a smile.

"Hi Danny," she grumbled as she bit into her cheeseburger. She seemed to have something on her mind.

"You okay?" He asked curiously. "You don't really seem… yourself today."

Valerie looked up in surprise. "What?" she glanced around the room as if suspicious of something. "Oh, no, I'm just fine. I've just got… a lot on my mind, is all."

Danny stared at her knowingly. "If you _ever_ want to talk about _anything _at all, I'm here."

"Thanks, Danny."

"Hey guys! What's crackin'?" Tucker cried as he took a seat next to Valerie.

Danny slowly looked up as a shadow fell over him and met Kelly's eyes. She didn't look too happy. Danny assumed that was because she had just had health education with Mrs Tetslaff – not a pretty picture. The teacher had taught Danny the previous year and he had suffered immensely due to it. But thankfully he now had a kind, male teacher for health ed.

"Hey," Danny breathed as she sat next to him.

"Hi," She replied with a smile. "One more period to go and we're out of here." Her eyes said something different though. _One more period until we _talk.

Danny grinned at her. He was about to say something else when his ghost sense went off. Before he could react, he felt two hands at his shoulders and looked up. It was none other than the pathetic Vlad Plasmius.

"It seems that I'm going to have to take Daniel away from you," he told the other three that were sitting at the table.

Kelly was shocked, Tucker obviously didn't want to be there at the time, and Valerie was eager to kick some ghost butt. But unfortunately, Valerie didn't get her wish.

"Plasmius," was all that Danny said before they both disappeared from sight.

* * *

Danny disappeared right before their eyes, along with the ghost that resembled a vampire that Danny had called by the name Plasmius. Kelly gasped and Valerie cursed herself for being too slow. Tucker, on the other hand, just continued to eat.

"We have to help him!" Kelly cried out in panic.

"And we have to punish that _ghost_." Valerie spat.

"Nah," Tucker mumbled through a mouthful of his beef burger. "Danny's fine."

Kelly and Valerie both turned to stare at him incredulously. "Danny is in trouble, he could get killed!" Kelly pointed out. "And you just continue to eat and tell us that Danny is _fine_?"

Tucker put down his burger as his phone began to ring. "Danny can take care of himself." He was completely serious with the two as he picked up his cell phone. "Hello?"

Kelly and Valerie exchanged worried glances as Tucker mumbled to the person on the other end of the phone. Once he was done, he didn't return to his burger as was expected. Instead he stood up and grabbed Kelly's wrist. "You, come with me," he ordered her before looking to Valerie with pity. "You, stay here."

Tucker dragged Kelly out of the cafeteria and into the hall. Once they were out of sight from Valerie, Tucker began to jog, still dragging Kelly along.

"Where are we going? What's happening?" Kelly cried as they left the school grounds.

Tucker didn't stop jogging and Kelly realised that they were heading to Fenton Works. "That was Jazz, Danny's sister, on the phone. She had gotten a strange reading from the Ghost Portal and had called to uh… ask if anyone knew about it. So I told her what had happened and she did a bit of fiddling around with the computers. She found out where Danny has been taken."

Kelly widened her eyes and sped up, determined to reach her boyfriend in time. "Where is he?" she gasped.

"He's in the Ghost Zone." Tucker answered.

"So…?" Kelly waited to see if he would confirm her suspicion.

"We're going into the Ghost Zone to rescue Danny."

* * *

**And into the Ghost Zone they shall go!**

**And people... I've just discovered... I might not be going today after all. I might be going on Monday and Tuesday. If you hear from me tomorrow, you'll know. But the bad thing is that I don't have an excuse for not writing my other stories (which I reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaally don't feel like writing but I feel like I have to) and so... You'll hear from me sooner or later. Hope you enjoyed the chapter. I was writing it really early this morning, until I decided to go to sleep, and then I just finished it. I always end up posting the chapters at this time of day.**

**Farewell, my people! Till we meet again :)**

**Love from an Elf Named Kirstyn.  
**


	16. The Moment We All Knew Was Coming

**Woo! Longest chapter so far! But wait and see, the next one is longer...**

**I'm posting three chapters today because this is my favourite story to write because the writing all flows so easily! It's just so easy to write. And according to my now updated plan, this story will have between 23 and 25 chapters. So I've got at least 8 after this chapter. At the moment I'm 500 words through chapter 18 but I haven't written anything for almost 24 hours because today is my relaxing day and also... damn i have homework. But all I have to do is watch a movie. Easy as. Okay. So here's the chapter. It didn't take me long at all to write it.**

**Review! I hope you like this chapter :)  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Fifteen**

**The Moment We All Knew Coming…**

* * *

When they had reached Fenton Works, Tucker pulled Kelly into a cluster of bushes. From there they could see all that was happening inside the building. Two shapes could be seen through one window, though Kelly wasn't sure if they were items of furniture or people. Tucker muttered something indecipherable beneath his breath.

He turned to her slowly and whispered into his ear. She tried not to grimace at the stench of his breath. "Okay, Mr and Mrs Fenton are in there, at the kitchen table. They're probably working on some inventions so it should be fairly easy to sneak past them. But we're going to have to be quiet."

Kelly nodded enthusiastically. "I won't make a sound." She promised.

"Good," Tucker turned back to the house. "I'll go first, since I know my way around better. Jazz said she'd meet us in the lab."

Tucker left the cover of the bushes and Kelly followed suit, straight into Fenton Works.

* * *

Valerie remained seated at the cafeteria table. Although she had waited for five minutes, Tucker and Kelly had never returned. They had just disappeared into the hallway. Valerie didn't even know what their excuse was. But she knew that the bell was about to go and Tucker hadn't even returned to finish off his lunch. That in itself was unusual.

She was about to go and look for him and Kelly when the dreaded bell sounded in her ears. She felt the urge to take a toilet break to keep her from having to sit through all of her history lesson but decided against it. Since all the toilets had been burnt down the day before, they had gotten 'porta-potties' to cover the needs of students and teacher alike. Valerie refused to use such a thing.

She knew that Mr Lancer would get furious when he discovered that Danny wasn't going to show up for his classroom. Danny had had English first period, so obviously Lancer knew that Danny had been at school. But how could Valerie explain the fact that Danny Fenton had been kidnapped by a ghost at lunchtime to a teacher such as Lancer? She couldn't. She'd have to sit back as Lancer ranted on about Danny's despicable behaviour.

It had not been a good week for Danny. He had skipped more school than ever before. Sure, he ditched his classes a fair bit, but not this often. "Something is up," Valerie muttered to herself as she took her history books from her locker. "Something is definitely up."

She got even more suspicious when neither Tucker nor Kelly showed up for History, either.

* * *

Danny opened his eyes and discovered that he was in the Ghost Zone. He was also being restrained by two blue hands, which he knew belonged to none other than Vlad Plasmius. He would have turned intangible as soon as he had awoken – Vlad had somehow knocked him unconscious for some time – if not for the device Vlad held in his hands. It was somehow blocking Danny's access to his ghost powers.

"Ah, Daniel, you're awake." Vlad stated the obvious as he continued to fly through the ghost zone. It was a part of the ever changing area that Danny and his friends hadn't yet gotten around to exploring. "I'm sorry I had to pull you out of lunch so dramatically."

"Sarcasm, Plasmius?" Danny retorted snappily. "I didn't think someone so old and so hideous was capable of doing anything other than be old and hideous. Though, I suppose you did use the sarcasm oldly _and_ hideously, so it all works out in the end."

Vlad frowned but did not let his anger get the best of him. "It doesn't matter how much you pester me, child, I will not act in haste. I intend that you join me."

"And I on the other hand intend on us fighting a battle, and me walking away as the winner." Danny growled.

"So young, so naïve," Vlad laughed sympathetically. "But I suppose if it's a fight you ask for, a fight is what you will get. But you will not win."

Vlad was sure of himself, but so was Danny. "I may not win, but you will lose."

Vlad let go of Danny as they landed on a large chunk of earth floating in the middle of nowhere. Danny grinned maniacally at the elderly man before transforming eagerly into Danny Phantom.

"Finally, something to take out my suppressed anger on!"

* * *

Kelly stood impatiently on her toes as she watched Tucker fiddle with the door handle. He claimed to have snuck into the Fenton's home many times in the past and that Danny had taught him a secret or two about the door. But he didn't seem to be too experienced in this area – he had been fiddling with if for almost five minutes with no success. She decided it was time to intervene – Danny was in danger.

"Step aside, Foley," she ordered and surprisingly, he obeyed her.

"What are you staring at, bird?"

Kelly briefly glanced behind her – Tucker had his back turned to her and was staring at a distant tree. She took advantage of the situation and turned her hand intangible so she could unlock it from the other side. As soon as she had the door open she aimed a kick at Tucker's leg, indicating that he ought to get a move on and save Danny.

Tucker wasn't very successful at being quiet. He tripped over a potted plant that was sitting in the _corner of the room._ Kelly widened her eyes as he fell in the doorway that led into the kitchen. She peered past him, panicked, and saw Danny's parents sitting at their kitchen table. Both wore freakishly weird looking hazmat suits with goggles down over their eyes, and both seemed to be fixing up small weapons. They were so fixed on the weapons that they didn't notice the two intruders.

Kelly soundlessly helped Tucker up and followed him into a lounge room. The television was turned on and switched to some nonsense cartoon. There seemed to be ghost stuff lying around everywhere – ghost dolls, ghost books, ghost magazines, ghost inventions, even a ghost _costume. Talk about obsessed, _she laughed nervously.

Finally they went down a set of stairs and into the Fenton Lab. Standing at the far wall, with her back to the two, was Jasmine Fenton. Kelly had only briefly met Danny's sister but when she had, Jazz had seemed like a pretty nice person. She had to be brave – she was planning on going into the ghost zone to save her younger brother from a powerful ghost.

And there it was, wide open and taunting her with its swirling green walls – the portal into the Ghost Zone.

"Hey, Jazz." Tucker greeted the older girl as though she were his sister. He went over to stand beside her and whispered something in her ear – something he obviously didn't want Kelly to hear.

Kelly narrowed her eyes slightly as Jazz turned to face her. "I hear you're going out with my brother," Jazz was being friendly, at least. "You must be pretty worried about him, huh? Especially since you came all the way here, and are determined to go into the ghost zone to find him."

"Yeah," was all that Kelly could say in reply.

"The thing is, it's hard to pick up on a humans DNA reading while they are in the ghost zone," Jazz informed Kelly. "So we've decided to trace the ghost that kidnapped him, Vladimir Plasmius."

"You know who it is?" when Danny had told her about his ghost hunting family, he had acted like they hadn't known what they were talking about. This was proof that he had lied about that.

"Well, yes." Jazz acted as if it were obvious. "As a matter of fact, the whole family does. You see, he's jealous of Danny, is in love with my mum and hates my dad. It's a bit hard to keep away from the creep."

Kelly raised her eyebrows. Vladimir Plasmius sounded like a strange ghost. "So what about you? What's this ghost got against or for you?"

"Nothing. I don't exist, which is perfectly good for me. I'd rather not get involved with all this ghost junk," Jazz explained as she pressed a green button on the wall. A secret doorway appeared and opened up for her. "But I suppose there's no avoiding it sometimes. Poor Danny."

But Kelly wasn't listening anymore – she was because gawking at the massive ship that was stored in the secret compartment. Jazz pressed another button and it was brought forward and into the lab. Tucker grabbed a few things from the bench beside him and climbed in while Jazz looked to Kelly. "This here, this is the spectre speeder. One of the only useful inventions my parents created."

Kelly smiled. "It looks so powerful."

"Oh, it is," Jazz informed her. "There's just a few tips before I take you into the Ghost Zone. First of all, no matter how rough things get in there, even if Danny is about to die, you do _not_ leave the spectre speeder. Danny can take care of himself most of the time. Secondly, it's handy to know that in the Ghost Zone, we humans are the ghosts. We may not have the powers they do, but we can walk through solid objects. It's useful."

* * *

Danny was beginning to grow tired. He and Vlad had been fighting for ten minutes and both were drawing. No one had yet gained the upper hand. And the worst news of all was that Danny was running out of ways to taunt Vlad. He'd mentioned Vlad's cat _at least _ten times already. It seemed to him as if this fight was going to last forever.

"What's wrong Daniel?" Vlad whined. "I thought you were going to make sure I was going to lose. But it looks like you're the one who will lose this fight."

"Oh no you didn't," Danny retorted as he threw another ice blast at Vlad. He would use his ghostly wail, but only when Vlad was weak enough to ensure his defeat.

* * *

"Seat belts on?" Jazz called from the steering wheel.

"Check," Kelly and Tucker answered in unison.

Jazz didn't acknowledge their answer as she turned a few dials and powered the spectre speeder. Kelly was surprised that her parents hadn't come down into the lab – this space-ship-like vehicle was extremely noisy. She could feel her ghost sense going crazy – after all, the ghosts were but a few metres away from her. It wouldn't be hard to explain the goose bumps that were covering her body – she could just pretend that she was scared. It was a believable story.

Kelly was unprepared for their take-off – she hadn't been paying attention and she hadn't thought that such a vehicle could travel so fast. She cried out in shock for the first few moments until she realised that her voice was the only thing to be heard. If the other two, who were humans, were being brave then she would too. After all, what was to be scared of? It was just a whole group of ghosts. She'd dealt with ghosts before.

Although, admittedly, before she came to Amity Park she'd had hardly any experience in fighting a ghost. She ran into perhaps one a month in Wisconsin. It showed how intense Amity Park's ghost problem actually was – they saw at least five ghosts per day. She'd seen more ghosts since moving to this town than she'd seen in her entire life. It was hard to believe but it was one hundred percent true.

"Okay, if we keep at this speed, we'll reach them in no time." Jazz assured the other two confidently. She looked as though she had done this many times in the past. And she probably had.

"Is it… always like this?" Kelly wondered. "I mean, with the people getting kidnapped and the ghosts always appearing?"

Jazz and Tucker shared a look - it angered Kelly because she knew that there was something going on here that she didn't know about. But it was her mission to find out – she knew that it concerned Danny Fenton.

Her suspicions about him could turn out to be true but she'd rather they were false. From everything she'd seen of Danny, from all the signs she had read, she knew that it was more likely that she was right – Danny Fenton hunted and killed ghosts for a living. It would explain all the ghosts business – what with getting kidnapped, and Jazz and Tucker telling her that Danny could take care of himself.

The ghost sensor could be a chip implanted in his brain to help him track an invisible ghost and exterminate it while it was unaware. It all made perfect sense. He skipped school whenever there was a ghost sighting and came back looking battered and bruised yet successful. Kelly hadn't witnessed this much because she was new, but she and Valerie had discussed it. Valerie was turning out to be an extremely good friend.

And what would happen between them? Did he view her as a hideous monster or could he look past the half of her that was not human? He told her that he would discuss it with her after school but since he had been kidnapped Kelly didn't think that was possible. Her theory also answered one other question.

It explained the night before, when she had seen Danny and Tucker in the park. He had been exhausted, Tucker had been indifferent and Danny Phantom had disappeared. Danny must've exterminated the half ghost. Could it be possible that he'd known about Danny Phantom and had somehow exterminated the ghost half while the human returned to normal? After all, Danny couldn't kill a human being. He just wasn't that sort of person. And perhaps that's what he wanted to do to her – perhaps he wanted to remove the ghost half from her body so that she was once again entirely human.

"The whole ghosts appearing a million times is a daily basis sort of thing," Tucker explained as Jazz scoped the area about them. "But Danny doesn't _usually_ get kidnapped by ghosts. We get the occasional kid that does but they're never harmed."

"Are you serious?" Kelly was shocked. "Has anyone ever been killed by a ghost?"

Tucker scratched his chin thoughtfully. "I'm not sure. It's a possibility, but I've never heard anything about people who have been killed by ghosts. At least, not in this town. After all, most of us know each other so I'm sure it would've been all over the place if someone _had_ been killed by a ghost. So in answer to your question, no, I don't think anyone has ever been killed by a ghost."

"But that's crazy!" Kelly cried. "You have so many ghosts roaming around and terrorising the town and yet no one has been killed? I thought you'd be… well, a ghost town – excuse the pun – by now. That's unbelievable."

Tucker eyed her off, obviously considering something. "You haven't had too much contact with ghosts before you moved here, have you?"

Kelly met his eyes and lied. "No, before I'd moved here I'd never even seen a ghost before in my life."

Tucker seemed to know that she was lying. "You'll get used to it."

_Is it possible that Danny told other people about me? Could he possibly know the truth…?_ Kelly almost laughed at her foolishness. Of course Tucker would know the truth – and so would Jazz – because they were the people Danny was closest to in the entire world. They also helped him out in his ghost hunting, so they probably would have discussed tactics to… well, to hunt her.

"Shush, guys," Jazz whispered as the spectre speeder slowed down. "There's Vlad. And he's fighting Danny Phantom."

Kelly looked on the scene in horror. She voiced her only thoughts to the other two as her world seemed to come crashing down. "So where's Danny, Danny Fenton?" She whispered.

Once again, Tucker and Jazz shared one of those infuriating looks.

* * *

Danny glanced up slowly and saw that the spectre speeder had arrived. He had been rescued by Jazz, Tucker and….

Danny widened his eyes. He had expected to see Sam sitting beside Tucker – after all, she was the one who usually came on these missions – but instead he saw Kelly. It was really happening, after all. The girl he had once loved most – Sam Manson – was being replaced by someone new. And there was nothing that Danny could do to stop that from happening – nothing that he wanted to do.

"Who's the new human pet?" Vlad asked curiously as his eyes slid over Kelly.

"No one," Danny spat as he fired another ecto-blast at the half ghost. He knew that now there was no avoiding the explanation he would have to give Kelly. After all of this was over, they'd have to have a really long talk. But for now, Danny couldn't risk either of the three getting hurt. Which meant that he had to end the fight as soon as possible.

"Well, I'm afraid that your time is up," Danny told Vlad mysteriously. "I'm too busy to deal with you any longer."

Danny balled his hands into fists and called upon all the energy that he could find in his body and uttered one command. "Divide."

Unfortunately, he hadn't quite gotten the hang of duplicating his form yet. He had only attempted it a few times, and each time it had failed miserably. This time was no exception. Instead of two Danny's appearing, Danny grew five extra necks on his body. From these necks sprouted about seven little Danny Phantom heads. Although they all looked unusual, they all contained the most important part of all – their mouth.

Vlad began to roar with laughter. "Duplication, Daniel? It seems that all you're going to do to me is crack me up,"

"Oh, I'll crack you up all right." Danny growled before sucking in a deep breath.

He called up all of his power and threw it into his eight different voices – he belted out his Ghostly Wail. The sonic waves hit Plasmius and threw him back – they threw him away until he had fallen miserably from the rock. The rocky earth itself began to splinter and break away, but Danny wasn't concerned. Vlad had passed out when he had fallen, transforming into his human form – though he doubted that Kelly had witnessed this – as he had gone. But still, this was not Danny was concerned about.

What Danny was concerned about was the fact that he was growing incredibly light-headed rapidly. If he didn't get off of this rock soon, he too would fall into oblivion. Well, probably just an endless abyss. But it was all the same in the end. The other problem was that he was about to change back into Danny Fenton, and there was nothing he could do to stop the transformation from occurring.

"I was planning on telling her… anyway…" Danny whispered weakly to himself as his world began to spin out.

As was expected, the rings appeared around his waist. They slowly and reluctantly travelled from head to toe until he had reverted into his human form. He, Danny Phantom, had just transformed into Danny Fenton, right in front of Kelly.

* * *

**Oooh! Haha. I like to change POV in this chapter. :) which reminds me, I was going through my stories and then I was reading the "Full Version of Bright Green Eyes" that I'd begun to write and I found a part in it where I changed POV twice in one sentence. It was something like: I pressed the button on her and it brought up images of her husband and me." Anyway... guess I'm just bored. I want a chai latte or a cappucino... I want it to rain! RAIN, DAMMIT! Anyway, next chapter should be up by the time that anyone is finished reading this chapter... unless you're a really fast reader OR I put a really big comment at the beginning and end of the next chapter. But either way..**

**REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!**

**Love from a thirsting thirsty little Thirstyn... Kirstyn :P  
**


	17. A Long Talk

**And I proudly present you my 4,000 word chapter! I really didn't want to split it in half, so I kept it as one and it's LONGER THAN USUAL :D Aren't you glad? I can't remember what it's about... wait now I can :) :) I read the first line, haha. I want scones with jam and cream. It was so funny... this morning, I had the biggest craving for scones with jam and cream. It was 3am, but I got up anyway and... yeah, I kind of woke my mum up. She got a LITTLE bit angry with me for having the scones so early in the morning. I would've made a coffee as well but our coffee machine is a LITTLE loud. But enough about me!**

**Onto my longest chapter ever!! ... At least, I think it's the longest chapter I've ever written. I am slack and usually end the chapters just after 2,000 words.  
****

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Sixteen**

**A Long Talk**

* * *

Tucker had known that his friend would pass out but he had forgotten that Kelly had been sitting in the spectre speeder next to him, watching the show. He turned his head as Danny Fenton collapsed on the piece of crumbling rock and looked directly into Kelly's startled green eyes. Tucker didn't know how to respond to her inquiring look so he just slowly smiled.

"Danny is…" Kelly paused, her eyes returning to Danny's unconscious form. "He's Danny Phantom? He's… half ghost?"

_I should've known…_

"Uh, surprise?" Tucker mumbled awkwardly. He turned to look back at Jazz, who was messing around with the controls at the front of the vehicle. "What next?"

_It was obvious… why didn't I see it? It made so much sense…_

_But so did your ghost hunting theory._ Another part of Kelly's mind pointed out.

_No, that was stupid._ _Great, I'm having an argument with myself in my head,_ Kelly thought sarcastically.

_I want pie._

She raised an eyebrow. Now that was just plain weird. She turned back to stare at her boyfriend who she had just discovered was exactly the same type of creature as she was. She had bragged about her being the only half ghost in the planet and he must've thought that she was some idiot. And the other one that he had been fighting had also been half ghost – only Kelly hadn't gotten a good glimpse of his human form since he had been falling.

"Well, obviously we have to get Danny off of the rock." Jazz replied curtly to Tucker. She turned around to meet Kelly's eyes and smiled sympathetically. "He was going to tell you this afternoon. He's just had a lot to deal with."

Kelly couldn't answer – instead she just nodded. So Sam was in trouble with a ghost and Danny was trying to save her without letting others know of his ghost half. Valerie obviously didn't know because she was always questioning Danny about his absences. And that was why the ghost had been conversing with Danny Fenton in the school, why Danny Fenton had sensed Kelly-Go-Boom in his bedroom and why Tucker had sucked Danny Phantom into the Fenton Thermos – he didn't want Kelly to find out the truth.

It also explained how he had found out about her. He had seen the same signs in her that he had experienced when becoming half ghost. And she should've seen the signs in him but she just hadn't wanted to admit that there could possibly be more creatures like her. She had liked thinking that she was one of a kind. But that didn't mean that she hated Danny for being a halfa. She was just a little bit confused.

"Well, how about we hurry it up?" Tucker suggested as he pointing towards the rock. "After all, it's breaking away pretty fast."

"Too fast," Kelly whispered. "We're too late…. He's falling!"

Jazz and Tucker both looked up and exclaimed their displeasure as they noticed that Kelly had not been lying – Danny was actually fallen to his death. But Jazz made no move to follow him with the spectre speeder.

"Something's wrong with the controls!" she cried out. "I can't get the spectre speeder to move."

Tucker turned back to Kelly. "Well, what're you waiting for? Jump out!"

Kelly gasped in horror. "What!? You want me to die _as well?_" she cried horrendously.

Tucker rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "No." he barked. "We know that you're also half ghost, Kelly – Danny told us – so I'm suggesting that you jump out of the window and go and save his butt."

"Oh…" Kelly knew that she shouldn't be surprised that Danny had told Tucker and Jazz her secret. She just hoped he hadn't told Sam – after all, she was suspected to be under a ghost's control. "Right."

"I'll open the door for you," Jazz told her. "Tucker, you make sure you keep your seatbelt buckled."

"Aye aye, captain!"

Kelly unbuckled her seatbelt and sat forward in her seat expectantly. Jazz pressed a few buttons and the door beside Kelly began to open. Kelly breathed in the air from the ghost zone and flung her body into the endless space. It was her first time in the ghost zone but she knew that she didn't have time to stop and survey her surroundings – she had a life to save.

As soon as her body was out of the Fenton's spectre speeder, Kelly pointed her toes and flung herself down in a dive. She willed the unique red rings that belonged to only her to appear and transform her into her ghost half– Kelly-Go-Boom.

When the transformation had been completed, Kelly used the knowledge gained by many nights of flying and training to become the best ghost that she possibly could to speed up her plummet. She used her eyes that were so like fire to scan the area around her as she descended. She had seen the speed of Danny's fall – her speed was almost twice that. She should catch up to him in only seconds.

The further she went down, the darker it got. But the surroundings remained an odd green hue. There were no more strange islands floating about and no ghosts to be seen. Her ghost sense wasn't even going off because none of the ghosts in the ghost zone came here. She wondered why. She assumed because this was such a desolate area and there couldn't possibly be anything to interest ghosts here. She knew she wouldn't want to spend eternity in this area.

"Danny!" she cried as she spotted him, and seconds later he was in her arms. He was still unconscious – obviously worn out from the attack. After all, he had used the wail attack eight times. It had almost wiped him out when he'd used it only once, so Kelly couldn't imagine what sort of strain it would put on him when he used it eight times.

She slowed her descent until she was floating in the air and looked back up. She could no longer see the spectre speeder but she didn't doubt that Tucker and Jazz were still waiting up there. They may have fled if it had been just her down here but they wouldn't leave Danny. She could tell – after all, she knew her parents thought the same way about her.

_That's why his parents were angry at him – he had been involved in all this ghost junk and he hadn't told them yet, so they didn't know what was going on. _Kelly concluded in amazement. How could Danny possibly keep such a large part of his life from his own parents? And they were ghost hunters! How could they possibly have not discovered this yet?

_Amity Park is definitely not what I expected it to be…_ Kelly began to speed up towards the place that she knew the spectre speeder would still be hovering.

* * *

The phone began to ring.

Maddie sighed and put down the ghost weapon that she had been trying to fix before sliding off her goggles. She knew that Jack wouldn't even look up from what he was doing to answer the phone – it was typical Jack behaviour. That was why he didn't have a cell phone. If he did, he'd always be asking other people to answer it for him.

Maddie got up from the kitchen table and walked over to the phone. The caller ID didn't recognise the number so she shrugged and picked up the phone. "Hello, this is Maddie Fenton speaking," she answered into the receiver.

"_Hello, Mrs Fenton, this is Mr Lancer speaking, Danny's teacher. I have called to inform you that Danny didn't show up to my English class this afternoon despite the fact that he was at school this morning and didn't sign out via the front office."_

"Mr Lancer, how nice to speak to you. I didn't sign out Danny, if that's what you were wondering. Oh I don't know what to do with him!" She cried out in frustration.

"_I was wondering if you would be able to come down to my office to speak with me about his behaviour."_

Maddie nodded determinedly before realising that she was speaking on the phone and not via camera. "Sure thing. When did you want me to come in?"

"_Would now be okay?"_

"It would be fine," Maddie answered as she glanced at Jack. He wouldn't even notice that she was gone. "I'll be on my way."

"_Thanks, Mrs Fenton."_

* * *

Finally Kelly spotted the spectre speeder. It had taken her a few minutes to reach it – she was a faster faller than she was a flier. Danny had begun to move slightly but he still hadn't woken up. Kelly decided to let Jazz decide what to do with her brother. She didn't expect Tucker to contribute sensibly – it was hard to believe that he was ever serious. He looked and acted like a joker.

When she reached the spectre speeder she discovered that the door was still open and Jazz was still looking at the control board. Tucker had moved over a seat so that Kelly could sit next to the unconscious Danny. Kelly put his body on one of the seats and put his seatbelt on before climbing in. Self-consciously she changed back into her human form – it went against all of her instincts to change in front of these people but she knew that she'd have to get used to her. Her life was about to change dramatically.

"Okay, I think I've got this fixed." Jazz muttered as she looked up from the various buttons, dials and switches. "Oh, Kelly, you're back."

Kelly smiled nervously. She wasn't quite sure how she should act around these people anymore. "So, we're going back now?" She asked hesitantly.

Jazz was about to answer when Tucker interrupted her. "First, we have to find out what to do with Danny. Jazz, your mum and dad will get _really_ suspicious if Danny comes out of the ghost zone, unconscious. And even if they found him passed out on his bed later, he'd be in for the questioning of a lifetime. No doubt Lancer's already contacted your mum about this afternoon's incident."

"You're right," Jazz agreed slowly. "So, what will we do with him? Your house?"

Tucker shook his head. "Can't – the parents will kill me for bringing my unconscious friend to my house. Besides, they'd just ring his parents as soon as I walked in the door with him in my arms."

Kelly clicked her seat belt into the holder and looked at the two of them. She had a solution to her problem that would also allow her to get some answers out of Danny and have the discussion that she was longing for. "I could take him to my house."

Jazz and Tucker turned to stare at her as if they hadn't even considered the option a possibility.

"After all, my parents know all about ghosts. They won't ask me if I don't want to tell them. That's our policy in our house, I guess. Either way, I can house him there for the night." She offered.

"That's a really good idea…"

* * *

Maddie walked into Mr Lancer's office tensely. She still hadn't discovered what had happened to her son but she'd definitely question him when he arrived home later that afternoon. He couldn't avoid her for much longer. She had called Tucker's and Sam's houses the night before to see if he had been staying there but they hadn't seen him. Sam's parents hadn't seen Sam either so it was suspected that the two had been somewhere together. Danny had a few other school friends but when Maddie had rung their houses the phone had not been picked up.

"Ah, Mrs Fenton, I'm so glad that you were able to make it. Please, take a seat." Mr Lancer, the fat bald teacher that Maddie had rarely met but strongly disliked sat in a seat in front of a large white desk. He indicated a spongy chair that she reluctantly took a seat in.

"I'm guessing that you know that Danny has been missing quite a bit of school lately," Mr Lancer began.

Maddie nodded. "And he hasn't been turning up at home either, at least, not until really late at night." She confided in him.

"And he was accused of setting parts of the school on fire – along with one Samantha Manson. Nothing has been confirmed yet, unfortunately. One of the staff went to check the tapes from the security cameras but found that they had all been destroyed. Your son is also a top suspect for that crime."

"I don't know why he's been acting so rebelliously," Maddie admitted sadly. "He used to be such a good boy. I just don't know what's wrong. He won't talk to me anymore, either."

"Yes, I agree that he was once a fairly well behaved student. But about a year ago, something changed him. I was wondering if you knew anything about that." Lancer wondered.

"I have also noticed that Danny changed around this time, but I can't think of anything different that has happened. I mean, he hasn't been hanging around with a different bunch of people, or anything." Maddie muttered.

Lancer scratched his bald head thoughtfully. "Sam and Tucker seem to be missing a small amount of school, but nowhere near as much as your son. I don't think that they are influencing him to do this. Is there possibly some trouble at home?"

Maddie thought back to Danny's life at home. "Not that I know of. He is always coming home as if he has been in a fight but nothing actually happens at our house. He sneaks out a bit, is all that comes to mind. Perhaps he feels as if Jack and I don't pay him enough attention. But is it possible that he is getting bullied?"

"It is possible," Lancer confirmed. "But I haven't witnessed or broken up any fights between Danny and any of the other students recently. A few times a fight has started between your son and Mr Baxter, but they were mild. It could be because he feels that he isn't getting enough attention, but it is unlikely."

"Do you have any suggestions, Mr Lancer?" Maddie pleaded.

"Principal Ishiyama is planning on putting him on a period check-sheet. He has to get each teacher to sign it when he arrives in class and has to hand it in to the principal, otherwise more dire measures will be taken. I also suggest that you take him to see a psychiatrist – there could be something going on that Danny may not want to talk to you about but may talk to someone else about. Unfortunately, that's all I can really suggest at the moment."

"I think it would be best for him if I arranged him an appointment with a psychiatrist." Maddie decided.

* * *

Danny weakly opened his eyes and let out a groan. His whole body ached and he felt as if he would never be able to move again. He remembered putting all of his strength and energy into the attack on Vlad and winced. That was a bad move. He didn't even know for sure if it had hurt the old man.

"Danny, you're awake."

It was Kelly. Her face loomed into view and he saw that she was smiling. He remembered that he had fainted in front of her – she had found out about his ghost half. She didn't seem to be angry or to hate him. She seemed to just be glad that he was awake.

"Kelly," he whispered in adoration. His eyes moved about him and he noticed that he was not in his own bedroom – the walls were a mix of emerald green and ruby red. He was in Kelly's bedroom, but why? "Why am I… in your bedroom?" he asked weakly as he fought to sit up.

She placed a hand behind his back and helped to lift him up. Once he was propped up by a dozen or so pillows she snuggled up against him and he closed his eyes. "I brought you back here. Jazz and Tucker thought it would be best."

"I'm sorry," he whispered. "I'm sorry that I didn't tell you. It would have been easier…"

Kelly smiled as she saw him fight to stay awake. "It's okay. Now go to sleep."

* * *

Danny woke up once again – this time he felt rejuvenated. He opened his eyes and saw that Kelly was asleep at his side. Although his body ached he found that he could move about and that he didn't feel tired anymore. He had probably been asleep for hours. The room around him was dark and the blinds were pulled back from the window, revealing a beautiful view of the stars.

_Ha ha… I just slept with Kelly,_ Danny chuckled, amused.

The feeling of his body shaking with laughter must have woken Kelly up. She yawned and stretched before looking at him in delight. He seemed to be back to normal, perhaps even better. He didn't seem to have any worrying thoughts on his mind.

"Danny," she whispered in wonder.

He looked down at her with a smile etched upon his beautiful face. "Kelly," He spoke her name as though she were someone to be worshipped. "We should talk."

"Yes," Kelly agreed as she lifted herself off of the bed and sat cross-legged on the floor. "Come on, we'll talk down here."

Danny nodded and joined her, sitting so he was facing her. He looked absolutely delighted – he looked happier than she'd ever seen him in the few days that she had known him. Strangely, it seemed as though they had known each other for a few years.

"Who first?" she asked him. She received a shrug in reply so she made the decision herself. "You explain everything that you've kept secret from me, then."

He shrugged again nonchalantly. "I've been half ghost for about a year," he began. "It happened when my parents first invented the Fenton Ghost Portal. At first it didn't work, so they had gotten upset and had left the house. Jazz hadn't been home and I was bored so I called Tucker and Sam and invited them over for a bit. We went down into what was just called the basement back in those times. Sam dared me to go into the Ghost Portal despite the fact that it didn't work so I rose to the challenge.

"After all, I thought it would be neat to be able to travel to a totally different world that was full of superior beings – full of ghosts. I would be one of the first people to know what truly happened to you when you died – did everyone become ghosts, was there a heaven, were there afterlives, or was there nothing? So I put on one of my father's jumpsuits and walked right on in.

"When I was inside, it was all so complicated. It was just this hunk of metal, though – no ghosts about. I had been looking at a strange part of the ghost portal when suddenly I slipped and must have accidentally pushed the on button. That was the reason that it hadn't worked earlier – my father had forgotten that he had put the on button on the inside instead of the outside. So I turned on the ghost portal while I was still inside.

"As you may guess, the shock half killed me. I'm surprised that it didn't fully fry me. I guess I'm just not an easy person to kill, huh?" Danny laughed to himself for a moment before continuing. "So I became Danny Phantom. Since I had activated the Fenton Ghost Portal, ghosts began to find ways to sneak through it and terrorise the town. So I became the town protector. And since Tucker and Sam had been with me at the moment of my… half-death, they were the only two that knew.

"That was until Jazz found out. But I still haven't told my parents. I am planning on telling them in a few days. But anyway, on to the part where I met you. You came to our school and seemed so normal for about an hour or two. But when you disappeared the first time our ghost halves met, I got a bit suspicious. And you yourself told me that you were half ghosts. And you _shared_ the same first name! Common mistake among us half ghosts.

"So at the Nasty Burger I turned invisible and hid from you. I witnessed your transformation and my suspicions were confirmed – you were both Kelly Stager and Kelly-Go-Boom. I wasn't sure if I should confront you or not. I asked people but no one could give me the right advice, and this was around the time that Sam just… disappeared. So I just decided to keep the secret from you for a bit longer so I could fully focus on finding out about Sam. But it didn't quite work. I suppose it probably would have been easier to tell you. But now you know, so all's good." Danny finished. "Your turn."

Kelly was still taking in Danny's story, though. "So the reason you turned off the ghost detectors in your house was so you could sneak out… and that's how you got out of the principal's office yesterday… it just explains so much."

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised that you didn't figure it out earlier." Danny admitted.

Kelly laughed. "I actually thought that you just really hated ghosts. Had me worried there, for a second. But anyway, on with my story. It's not as dramatic or as long as your story, but ah well." Kelly paused before she launched into her recap. "Okay, so I only got my ghost powers about two months ago. You see, I'm a _really_ clumsy person. So one day in Wisconsin, me and my parents were taking a nice morning stroll. There was a construction site in the middle of the route we normally take so we just walked straight on through it. But clumsy me just has to go and trip and fall into a sewer. It was disgusting, and apparently all these strange things had been dumped in there by some ghost nut. So I was infected with all this ectoplasm and stuff – the next day I had a really bad reaction. And then the day after, I was half ghost.

"I told my parents, of course, because I was totally freaking out. They inconspicuously looked into the issue and found out that my powers were like those of a ghost. And I could change into a ghost, but when I was human I wasn't detected as a ghost. So that's how we found out that I was half ghost. My brother Kevin also knows about it.

"So my parents began to covertly experiment with ectoplasm and stuff and have been helping me out. Back in Wisconsin there weren't many ghosts or anything, and I was having trouble at school because of my clumsiness and my strange ghost powers. So we relocated here, to a ghost infected town in hope that I would learn to use my powers and possibly find a way to live with these powers. And that's about it."

Danny looked at Kelly for a moment before smiling. "Wow," he whispered. "It's so different from the way Vlad and I…" he paused, realising his mistake.

"I know he's half ghost," Kelly informed Danny. "But you guys both were turned into half ghost at the same time? You didn't tell me that in your story."

"No, no!" Danny assured her quickly. "He became half ghost twenty years before I did. But we both got changed in the same way – my dad created a portal and it half killed both of us."

Kelly breathed out in relief. "I'm glad you didn't both get turned at the same time. That guys a creep. And I'm glad you trusted me enough to tell me."

"No more secrets?" Danny asked.

"No more secrets."

Danny put his hands on either side of Kelly's face and leaned forwards before planting a kiss upon her lips.

* * *

**They do not have sex. They DID not have sex, either. Haha. And yes, I know the whole "I want pie" (Kelly's thoughts from the top) was really random but I really felt like a blueberry or cherry pie. I get hungry when writing in the middle of the night. And the problem is that I write best when it is the middle of the night. I have difficulty writing during the day. I'm not a day person. Definitely a night person. I'm also not a summer person - I hate it. So... People think I'm pretty weird...**

**OKAY! The next chapter isn't as long. It shall be up ASAP. Which is about six minutes from now. And SOMETHING HAPPENS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER! From here on it gets interesting. Though I'm not sure if 18 will be interesting. I couldn't be bothered finishing it. I'll write it at 10 tonight. Homework has to be done first.**

**Love from an sore backed creature known by the name of Kirstyn... which is actually my real name... or is it? Dun dun dun!  
**


	18. My Reasons

**Ah, such a shame. It's short. But I forgot to mention, this was originally part of the last chapter, but I had to split it in half because I didn't want it to be 6,000 words long. But then I realised "Hang on, I can't make this little plot plan for this chapter 2,000 words long" so I think I filled it in with random nothingness a bit. But onto some really surprising news.**

**So I was bored the other night, and I wanted to see how long this story was on microsoft word in arial, size 12 font. (I don't actually have this story saved on my computer - I upload a chapter and then erase it and use the same word document for the next chapter). And guess what I found out?? (I was really shocked when I found this out, too.)**

**THIS STORY IS 109 PAGES LONG.**

**Seriously. I couldn't believe my eyes. None of my fanfiction stories have ever been longer that 42 pages, I think. And I think that was Stone of Light... not sure, I can't remember. But seriously. 109 pages long. And I'm not even done. My writing has DEFINITELY improved.**

**REVIEWS, PEOPLE!  
**

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* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Seventeen**

**My Reasons**

* * *

It was a Saturday morning and Danny still hadn't returned home. Even Jazz was beginning to get worried despite the fact that she assured her parents regularly that Danny was just staying at a friend's house. Maddie had insisted on filing a missing persons report but her teenage daughter wouldn't let her. She promised her mother that she would find Danny if he wasn't home by Saturday. And today just happened to be Saturday.

Danny had gone to school, though. Maddie knew that he'd gone to school and had occasionally driven down just as the last siren of the day went so she could pick him up. But each and every time he had somehow avoided her. Jazz couldn't see why Maddie wouldn't think to pull Danny out of the middle of a class – that's what someone smart would do. And her mother wasn't lacking in the brains department. But Maddie didn't want to face the wrath of the fat old teacher or the principal.

So Jazz smiled at her mother as she left the house, her car keys jingling in her hand. She had no choice but to bring her little brother home – and she knew exactly where he was.

* * *

"I suck at English," Kelly pointed out with a slight pout. Although it was a Saturday, Kelly's parents had told them that Danny could only stay if he helped her with her homework. And he actually had to _help_ her – the came in at regular intervals to see how much work had been done.

"No you don't," Danny assured her. It was funny that he could actually help her with this subject – he was flunking quite a few of his others. Or he suspected that he was, due to the amount of time he'd spent away from school. But ever since Kelly had found out his secretly – which was only a day or two ago – he hadn't missed out on as many classes. For some reason, the ghosts just didn't seem to be bothering him. "You just need a little bit more practise."

"Homework on a Saturday _sucks,_" she cried out in frustration as she threw her pen down on her desk. "Let's go out and do something _please_!"

Danny laughed. "Fine, but only because I hate homework too. The only thing is, I need to be back at home by five o'clock tonight. I'm planning on telling the parents – after all, I can't stay away from my own home all the time. I'm getting sick of sneaking into my bedroom every morning to get a new change of clothes, and your parents must be sick and tired of having me staying in the guest bedroom."

"My parents aren't sick of you, Danny," Kelly told him kindly. "But I'm glad that you're telling your parents – they deserve to know. And I doubt they'll even be surprised – they must have figured some of it out by now. Even if they are surprised, what's the worst that they can do?"

"I suppose you're right…" Danny wasn't sure though. He had a curious feeling that something bad was going to occur. But he didn't know what. "Anyway, what do you want to do today?"

* * *

Valerie was glad that she had only agreed to work for her principal on school days – she couldn't handle being locked up in that little screening room for much longer. The only ghosts that flew past had been pathetic ones such as the Box Ghost and that annoying ghost that always wanted a friend, Klemper. Once she had seen Danny Phantom jet past with another ghost – a female ghost – but they had been going too fast for Valerie to intercept.

She hadn't even been able to go out very much – the only ghosts that she was allowed to take down were the ones terrorising the school. And not too many of them seemed to be very interested in an empty high school. Valerie couldn't blame them – if she wasn't getting paid for the work, she would've been out of there like a shot. And after losing her job at the Nasty Burger, she needed the money.

She had only lost her job at the Nasty Burger due to her missing work too many times on account of ghost hunting business. But she couldn't tell them that. After all, it was meant to be a big secret and everything. She didn't even have a clue how her principal could have found out – she had questioned her father and he had sworn that he had nothing to do with it. And why would Mr Masters, a millionaire from Wisconsin, tell her high school principal about her secret life? It was just messed up.

She needed some relaxing time. She knew that she couldn't call Kelly or Danny – they had been too wrapped up in each other for the past few days that it was beginning to make her sick. She couldn't believe that Danny had already forgotten about Sam's odd behaviour and more importantly, her disappearance. After all, she had heard Danny telling Tucker that he'd called Sam's house and her parents admitted to not knowing where their daughter went out when she was meant to be going to school.

What Valerie also couldn't understand was why Sam's parents hadn't done anything about their daughter yet. They were super strict parents and wouldn't want their daughter to head in the wrong direction. They didn't even like it when Sam and Danny became friends. Valerie had thought that after the fire issue, Sam would be sent to an all-girls boarding school for the rest of her school life. But apparently not so. The issue of the fire was now in the hands of the police, and they apparently eager to get either Danny or Sam in their hands. They had to speak to their parents, first, due to them being minors.

So Valerie knew that the only person that she could call to talk to was Tucker. She had been talking to Tucker quite a lot lately and had discovered that he wasn't half bad. Sure, he looked weird on the outside and was quite strange on the inside, but deep down she knew that he was really a sweet guy. He could always make someone laugh, though. That was one of his best qualities.

So Valerie picked up her phone and dialled Tucker's house number, waiting eagerly for an answer.

* * *

Jazz arrived at Kelly's house, fuming on the inside. She couldn't believe that her brother hadn't had the courage to return to his own house and to tell his parents the truth about himself. Did he think that she was just going to continue covering for him for the rest of her life? Because if that was the case she needed to set him straight. If he didn't tell them soon, she herself would. She knew it was not her secret to tell and was totally for him telling them himself, but if he didn't then who else would? So his parents wouldn't trust him – at least they would know the truth.

Jazz slammed the purple car door shut as she looked up at Kelly's friendly home. She opened the white picket gate, too angry to admire the beauty of the place. She marched right up to the front door and banged angrily on it for a few seconds before stopping and taking a deep breath. She needed to calm down before the door was answered – it wouldn't do if she blew up at Kelly's parents. After all, they didn't know what was happening – she had clearly asked Kelly not to tell _anyone_, and by anyone she even meant Kelly's own parents.

The door was opened by a guy who appeared to be her own age. She smiled friendlily at him, hoping that he wouldn't feel the anger emanating from her body. "Hi, I'm Jazz, Danny's older sister. I was wondering if he was here. I haven't heard from him in a while and really need to talk to him."

Kevin shook his head at her. "Sorry, Jazz, Danny and Kelly left a little while ago. They didn't tell anyone where they went. I truly am sorry."

Jazz almost wanted to scream. "Thanks," she whispered before returning to her car, a smile fixed upon her face. Once the door was shut and the key in the ignition, Jazz did scream.

* * *

Danny and Kelly sat huddled beneath a tree in their private little area behind the park. They hadn't been there for long – the rest of the day they had spent patrolling the shops. Kelly had wanted a new dress to wear for the upcoming dance and had wanted Danny to come to try and pick one out with her. He had complimented every dress that she had put on. She hadn't bought one, though – she told him it was because she felt that she needed a girl's opinion and that she'd ask Valerie to go shopping with her sometime in the near future.

Danny shifted uncomfortably as his leg began to cramp up. "I think I should just let you know," he began as his mind ran over the events of the day. "and don't tell anyone this, but Valerie's a ghost hunter."

Kelly's body tensed up. "What?"

Danny rubbed his hand down her back soothingly. "Shh," he whispered. "That's one of the reasons why I was avoiding her questions earlier. She's been on to me for some time. I just thought to let you know in case… I don't know, in case something happens."

"Thanks, I think."

Danny smiled at Kelly's response before remembering another thing. "Hey, what's the time?" he asked curiously.

"Um, it's almost half past five. Why?"

Danny ran his hand through her silky red hair. "Because you need to finish your English homework and I need to go home for the first time in… a while." He explained.

"Good luck," Kelly whispered.

"Thanks."

* * *

Danny stood outside his house for a few moments. After the past few days that he'd spent away from his home, it seemed unfriendly and distant. The lights were all on inside – it was becoming winter and was getting dark earlier than usual. He didn't know what to expect when he walked in the door. His parents had obviously not called the police yet but that didn't mean that they weren't planning to. He didn't know what Jazz had told them while he had been away but he knew for sure that they hadn't discovered where he was.

_Yeah, I was sleeping at my girlfriend's house…_ he could just imagine their expressions as he told them the truth. Both would be horrified and outraged. For a start, they hadn't even known that he had a girlfriend. Secondly, it had taken them almost a year to allow him to sleep over at Sam's – if he had asked them about staying at Kelly's, the answer would have been a definite no. He had knowingly defied them.

He took a deep breath. He knew that he had to face them and he knew that it would have to be soon. Jazz would be angry at him for leaving it so long – but he had needed a bit of time to relax before he took care of all of his problems. And now he was doing as he had promised himself he would – he was solving these problems one by one. His parents were the first to be dealt with and next he would help Sam.

He reluctantly climbed the front steps and put his hand on his front door. He slowly turned the door knob, prepared himself for what was about to come, and walked inside.

At first there was no reaction. No one was standing at the door, waiting for him to come in. There were no sounds coming from the house at all – it was as if his family had gone out. It was the sort of thing that would happen – he would have missed out on a family outing by just an hour or so. It always seemed to happen to him and only him – Jazz never missed out on anything. But then again she wasn't half ghost.

But then he heard a two pairs of footsteps approaching him. He flinched and shut the door behind him. In only seconds his parents were in view, their looming forms looking down at his disapprovingly. They didn't even look a little bit glad to see him – not at all.

Maddie looked as if she were battling with her emotions. Part of her wanted to admit that she was relieved that she was glad that he was okay while the other part of her wanted to question why he had even bothered to return at all. She was going to get the answer out of him, no matter how long it took or how painful it was. Of course, she wouldn't torture him, though.

"Young man, you've got a _lot_ of explaining to do," Maddie warned him testily.

"I know," Danny told them wearily. "And I will explain. First of all, I didn't start the fire, and I don't know who did." He knew that was a lie but he couldn't bring himself to dobbing in his best friend.

"And how do we know that you're telling the truth?" Maddie was definitely suspicious. "After all, the security tapes were all destroyed."

Danny could feel his hands begin to sweat as he prepared to tell them the biggest news of all. "I don't know. Instincts, or something? I swear, I didn't do it. There are many things that I have done that I shouldn't have done, but this wasn't one of them. I didn't set the school on fire."

"So how did you escape from your principal's locked office?" Maddie questioned furiously.

Danny took a deep breath and told them the truth.

"Because I am half ghost. I am Danny Phantom."

* * *

**Yeah. Not necessarily juicy. Oh damn, I realised that I stopped writing on a semi-cliffhanger. Haha. Ah well. Hopefully if I can be bothered writing the next chapter should be up within 6 hours. But it's not necessarily likely. I will put the next chapter up within 24 hours though. I'm trying to finish this story off. And then I won't return until Tuesday night for me, which I don't know what it is for the rest of the world. So don't expect any chapters (apart from possibly one for this story) from me for the next couple of days. But once I return, all my stories shall be updated. And then I might go to writing once a week. School makes me busy. Especially since I work, too. And other things. But I hope you enjoyed this shorter chapter.**

**Enough writing now.**

**I need to do homework.**

**Love from the hungering for Krispy Kreme doughnuts little child named Kirstyn...  
**


	19. Out and About

**Yes, it's another shortie.. And I have no idea what happens in the next chapter so I can't guarantee that it will be longer than this chapter. Took me alllll day to write this... because I had it open for the whole day but up until an hour ago I forgot all about it :) But I have come to bring you this one chapter. I may get the 19th chapter up tomorrow morning before I go, but otherwise it's toodles for a few days. The story shall be finished in about 4-5 chapters :'(. I'll miss you, The Beginning. But then after I've finished Vortex of Deception - because I willl finish that one first - then I will move on to the second one which was once titled I'm Not The Same As You but is now officially untitled. Which means after this story is finished, anyone still reading will have to wait a minimum of two weeks for the next one to be started. But in case anyone is reading this story, I'll post a little note saying that "The next story has been started and is now up."**

**But anyway. Moving on! REVIEWS!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Eighteen **

**Out and About**

* * *

Jazz had gotten Kelly's cell phone number from Tucker earlier that day and decided that she would call to speak to Danny since he had so carelessly broken his own phone. She would then demand that he return home at once and stop being so foolish. He had a lot of explaining to do when he got home but the sooner it was done, the better.

Jazz dialled Kelly's phone number into her cell and waited as it began to ring. She was sitting in her car which was parked outside the library – it was the one place that could calm Jazz down when she was in a bad mood and she'd gone straight there from Kelly's house. She could feel herself growing angry again – Kelly was taking a very long time to answer her phone.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey, Kelly, it's Jazz." Jazz worked hard to keep a relaxed tone of voice so as to not startle the other girl into making some excuse and hanging up the phone.

"_Oh, Jazz, hey! Didn't expect it to be you. What's up?"_

Jazz frowned. Kelly sounded so innocent, so oblivious. It had to be an act. "Where's Danny? I need to speak to him."

"_Where are _you?_ Danny went home about ten minutes ago. We were out in the park. He went to go talk to his parents, he said. Why? Hasn't he shown up or something?"_

Jazz could hear the panic in the younger girl's voice. "Don't worry," she replied calmly. "I'm at the public library, so I didn't know that Danny was going home. I was just calling to tell him to go home. I'm glad he has."

"_I am too."_

"Well, I have to go now. I'll go see how the parents are taking it, and all. See you soon, Kelly."

"_Bye!"_

* * *

Danny expected a strong reaction from his parents. After all, they were ghost hunters and devoted their life to destroying ghosts. Both had expressed their hate for Danny Phantom many times and had tried to destroy him on a daily basis. But despite Danny's anxious assumptions, he hadn't expected the one reaction that he did get.

"Get out."

It was his mother, and she looked furious. He backed away, frightened and confused. His own mother was telling him to get out? "What?" he whispered in denial. She couldn't possibly be treating him as if he were some naughty dog.

"I said, get out. _Get out of my house!_" Maddie yelled between her teeth.

Danny could feel unwanted tears spring to his eyes as he turned his back and obeyed her orders. He slammed his door shut as he left. He had just been kicked out of his own house by his own parents, who he had thought had loved him. It was obvious that he had been wrong.

* * *

When Danny had left his house only twenty minutes earlier the weather had been fine – the sky had been a dark grey colour and the temperature was average. But now as he wandered the lonely streets of Amity Park it was completely different. It was pitch black despite the time and it was pouring with rain. The wind was whistling through the trees and rattling windows noisily.

Danny had nowhere to go – he had nowhere he could take shelter from the terrible weather. He had already asked too much from Kelly by staying at her house for the past few days and he wanted to be alone. He couldn't seek refuge as Danny Phantom – Valerie was bound to hunt him down – and he couldn't even go to a friend's house. Tucker had mentioned the fact that he wouldn't be home that night and Sam was nowhere to be seen.

Danny was truly alone.

He collapsed in a dark, dank alleyway and pushed his wet hair back from his face. He held his head to the sky and felt the rain wash away his tears. But he knew that they were still there, and that would keep coming.

He was more in shock than he was upset. He had expected many different reactions from his parents but never had he guessed that they'd kick him out of the house. Well, basically his mum. His dad didn't exactly say or do anything. But that's where Jack went wrong – he didn't even stop his wife from throwing their only son out into the streets.

Danny closed his eyes as he shivered miserably.

* * *

Tucker grinned as he flopped down onto his bed. His parents had organised for the family – including his grandparents who were visiting from Florida – to all go out to dinner but due to the terrible weather they had cancelled. But Tucker didn't mind. He felt as if he was in love.

He had spent the entire day with Valerie, just 'hanging out'. They had played video games for a little while, had something to eat at the Nasty Burger and after that they had _talked. _Tucker had never had so much fun with someone other than Sam and Danny. Valerie hadn't seemed to be too cheerful at first but as the day progressed she had warmed up. When he looked past the whole ghost-hunting psycho part, Tucker saw that Valerie was a pretty awesome girl.

The sound of his house phone ringing interrupted his thoughts. He frowned and remained on his bed – his parents would answer the phone. And just as he had expected, the phone stopped ringing. He yawned and considered having a shower when he heard a knock at his door. He frowned impatiently and called out for whoever it was – likely one of his parents – to enter.

His mum walked in, a slightly concerned expression upon her face. She wordlessly handed him to phone and he put it to his ear. "Hello?" he was confused – why would his mother look so concerned.

"_Hello, Tucker, this is Mrs Manson. I was wondering if you'd seen Sam tonight."_

She sounded as if she was holding in tears. Tucker could understand why his mum was so worried. "No, Mrs Manson, I'm afraid I haven't. Why do you ask?"

"_Oh, it's just we haven't seen her for the entire day. And we thought that it might have been a prank that she'd pulled on us… but me and my husband were in her room earlier and we found a note on her desk… it said that someone had kidnapped our daughter. It was signed V.P."_

Tucker dropped the phone.

* * *

As Jazz approached her front door she noticed that it was locked. Her parents didn't usually lock the door when waiting for Jazz to come home because she often didn't take her keys with her. Luckily this time she had – she hadn't known what time she would be home or if her parents would be there or not when she had gone to find Danny in the first place.

She pushed her keys into the lock and turned it, letting herself into the dark house. She had heard Kelly right, hadn't she? Kelly _had_ said that Danny was going home to tell his parents of his other half. So why was it so empty inside? Could it be that they'd all been taken hostage by ghosts?

Just as Jazz was beginning to panic, her mother walked slowly into the room. She had a look of anger upon her face as she stared at her clueless daughter. Jazz smiled in relief – even if her mother was mad at her for being home late, at least they hadn't been taken by ghosts.

"Hey mum, where's Danny?" Jazz asked as she tossed her keys onto a small table located next to the door particularly for that purpose.

"You knew." Maddie whispered, seething with anger. "You knew all along and you didn't tell us."

"About Danny? I found out. I was going to tell you, though. Where is he?" Jazz was beginning to get slightly worried – she didn't particularly like her mother's tone. It hinted that her mother hadn't taken the news all so well.

"Gone." Maddie growled. "I kicked him out."

Jazz gasped and backed out of the house, away from the monster who had once been her mother.

* * *

Kelly looked up from her remaining English homework – she and Danny had never gotten around to completing it – as her cell phone began to ring. She frowned as she looked at the phone – it wasn't Jazz because she'd just called, and her number was different. It couldn't be Danny because the caller ID would have recognised him.

"Hello?" she spoke into the phone curiously.

"_Hey Kelly, it's me, Tucker."_

Kelly was slightly surprised. How had the techno-geek gotten her number? "Hey, Tucker, what's up?"

"_You know how Danny told you that he was going to tell his parents the truth about him?" _Tucker didn't wait for her to reply. _"Well, I just rang his house. No one answer, so I rang Jazz's phone since Danny smashed his a few days ago. She told me that Danny had been kicked out by her 'freakishly insane mum'."_

Kelly gasped. "No! Why?"

"_She must be shocked, or something. But we need to find Danny. And only you have a chance of finding him fast enough. Could you do it?"_

"Of course," Kelly answered quietly. "Anything."

"_Thanks. We're meeting outside the Nasty Burger. Get there as soon as you can. It's really important."_

Kelly shut her phone and threw her raincoat on. She was going to go out into the freezing weather, to allow her body to get battered and tortured by the murderous rain, and she was going to find Danny. No matter how long it took her.

* * *

Danny looked up absently as his ghost sense told him of an approaching ghoul. He watched the familiar flaming red figure sinking down to the ground, her emerald green hair like moss due to the rain. She took one look at him and pulled him to his feet. She wrapped her arms around him and cupped the back of his head lovingly.

Danny allowed her to move him, still in his own little sorrowful world.

"Oh, Danny," She crooned. "Oh, honey, Danny, it'll be okay." Kelly whispered into his ear as she began to rock him back and forth soothingly.

He felt his heart warm up slightly at the passion in her voice. It was strange, the feelings that had blossomed in the two, feelings for each other, in less than a week. Their bond was a strong one. "Why are you here?" It hurt to hear the suffering in his voice.

"Oh, Danny. Tucker sent me to get you. I'm so sorry, I didn't know." She still held him close.

"Why did Tucker send you to get me?" Danny couldn't understand what his girlfriend was saying.

"I don't know," Kelly admitted as she shivered – the cold affected her greatly when she was in this form. "But he said it was important. He wanted us to meet him at the Nasty Burger."

Danny willed the tears to stop flowing from his eyes. He had had his cry – now he had other things to deal with. He would have to put his heart in a safe and lock it up until all of this mess was sorted out. He pulled away from Kelly's warm embrace and instead held her hands in his. He smiled weakly down at her – she was shorter than him by just a little – and whispered two words. "Let's go."

In a flash of light the two had disappeared.

* * *

Danny and Kelly arrived at the Nasty Burger soon after Jazz and Tucker had. They had been able to sneak inside without triggering any of the alarms and were sitting at one of the booths. Danny ran his hands through his scraggly hair and joined them, Kelly attached to his hip as though she were a Siamese twin.

"You can teleport?" Tucker asked curiously as he nervously fiddled with his glasses.

"I suppose so," Danny answered glumly. Despite his attempt to lock his heart away, he couldn't help but feel desolate – his parents had just kicked him out of the house, after all.

"Oh, Danny, I'm so sorry. I didn't think mum would react that way." Jazz apologised sympathetically. She could see that her brother was in a lot of pain.

"Mm, s'okay. So, Tucker, what's this important news that you have called us to the Nasty Burger to discuss?" Danny turned to his friend in hope that Tucker would distract him from his despairing thoughts.

Tucker looked up from the table and met each and everyone's eyes before answering Danny's question. "Sam has been kidnapped by Vlad."

* * *

**See? Told ya it was short. It only just scratched the 2,000 words mark. But that's all that I could do for this chapter, so so be it. Now... let's take a little look at my plan... Great. I sure planned the next chapter out well. Written down on my plan is: "Plan... fill the rest in!! Yay! Oh... not this chapter! NEXT". How am I supposed to understand that? What's not this chapter!? Ah well. I'll figure it out eventually. Oh, maybe I can do the whole thing with that random cat... yes... *twiddles thumbs evilly* The Cat shall be used in the next chapter... MUAHAHA!**

**Until then, my children of the night.  
**


	20. To Plan to Plan on Saving Sam

**Hi guys, I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! After a weekend full of shopping and guitars, I proudly present chapter 19! :) I only was able to write this because there was a car crash on the way home from my nice stay in the city, and so I was in the car, my portable dvd player dead (I had been watching Bleach :D) and an empty exercise book on my lap. So this chapter was completely handwritten! And then I typed it up just then, but nevertheless there are mistakes. And I can't remember what happens in this chapter, or if it makes sense or not. If it doesn't then tell me and I'll redo it :) I'm in a good mood - I finally have been reunited with the wonderful beverage known as coffee :) My heart belongs to you and only you, my beautiful coffee. Oh, damn, I have to write... and school starts tomorrow... and I have to watch a movie and read a book before school starts... hmm. Well, I'll write up these chapters first! I'm almost finished the story (I'm up to chapter 22). But I think it'll take longer to finish than I originally expected. Originally, there were only going to be twenty chapters. But anyway. ONTO THE STORY!  
Hehe, I was bored when I did the title.  
See, if they're planning to save Sam, they have to plan ahead. So they're creating a plan and plan on saving Sam, so it's To Plan to Plan on Saving Sam. It's no mistake people :) Coffee high, here!  


* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Nineteen**

**To Plan to Plan on Saving Sam**

* * *

"We need to devise a plan."

It was obvious that something had to be done. Everyone instantly looked hopefully towards Danny – after all, he knew Vlad the best and did have the most experience in dealing with ghosts. But for once, he wasn't the only half ghost attending the meeting. He glanced at Kelly and saw that she was upset by the Goth's disappearance – it seemed the situation would be left in his hands once again. He didn't mind. He liked it when things went his way.

"Does anyone have any suggestions?" Danny asked. It was necessary that he asked – otherwise someone might get angry with his plan. On many occasions when they worked together and devised a plan out of a combination of their ideas, it was more successful.

"Well, obviously we have to save Sam soon." Jazz stated.

"But we can't just recklessly fly into battle, especially since we don't know for sure where Vlad took her… I'm assuming that this is that Plasmius guy I see terrorising you?" She didn't seem to be looking for an answer to that question.

"Vlad Masters, billionaire from Wisconsin, it is. I'm actually surprised you never ran into him." Tucker seemed to be slightly suspicious of Kelly. Danny could see that the two hadn't formed a bond of friendship yet. It always took a bit of time for new people to warm up to Tucker.

"So first we need to find out where she's been taken," Danny looked to Jazz. "Can you try and pick up on your scanner her DNA reading? Or Vlad's, for that matter. I'll go to her bedroom and see if I can find any other clues that Vlad may have left us in particular. He always seems to be tempting us into battle."

"What do you want me and Tucker to do?" Kelly was feeling quite useless at the time.

"Not much for the moment. Prepare yourselves, I suppose. Try and find some clues wherever you can. When we've found out all we need to know, we'll plan our attack out in detail. I for one plan on saving Sam from his clutches before it is too late. Agreed?"

"Agreed,"

* * *

Jazz refused to return home. She said that her mother's behaviour was despicable and that she didn't want to be in the same house as her when she was in such a discriminative mood. It was left unsaid but Danny knew that Jazz was also afraid of being kicked out of the house as well because she had known Danny's secret. She had willingly walked out the first time – what if she couldn't get back in. Besides, she had left her keys inside the house.

Danny decided to search Sam's house before going to Tucker's – he didn't want to impose on Kelly's parents once again. Jazz didn't tell Danny where she was going – but he knew that she was just going to a friend's house. He wasn't worried about her.

He found nothing even remotely suspicious in Sam's bedroom or even in her house.

* * *

Since Danny hadn't been able to return to his house at all since his mother had kicked him out – he didn't doubt the fact that she'd once again switched on the ghost detectors to stop him from returning – he hadn't been able to get a clean change of clothes. Instead he had gone out and bought a few pairs of pants and a few shirts. Unfortunately the clothes that he usually wore hadn't been in stock. Instead Danny had to wear a pair of black denim jeans and a lime green shirt with a black jacket over the top – it was beginning to get extremely cold in Amity Park and Danny didn't want to draw even more attention to himself.

Danny and Tucker had spent all of Sunday scouring Amity Park – they had even gone to the school despite the fact that it had been the weekend – but they hadn't found even the smallest clue left behind by Vlad. It seemed that the fruit loop was playing hard to get – a very unusual concept when it came to Vlad Masters.

Jazz hadn't had much success with her task either – after all, she hadn't returned to Fenton Works since Danny had been thrown out. She planned on sneaking in during the day because Maddie always taught a martial arts class on Mondays and her father went to a cooking class.

Danny, Tucker and Kelly on the other hand were stuck going to school. By now it was likely that the news of Sam's kidnapping would be all over the town – the Manson's weren't a family that kept to themselves. Of course, they would have filed a missing persons report and told the school of Sam's disappearance – after all, the school required a reason for each absence of the student. The three would have to go through school and act as though they had no idea what was really going on. The only problem with that was Valerie.

Although she was a close friend of theirs she couldn't possibly find out the truth about this situation. She couldn't be told the truth of any of her friends – even though they all knew the truth about her. She was a ghost hunter, and a good one at that. They couldn't risk telling her – sure, there was a chance that she may completely accepting of them but it was more likely that she would hunt them down and destroy them. It was in her nature to do so.

"You ready to go, dude?" Tucker asked as he placed his red beret upon his head. He had been told countless times by everyone around him that his beret was considered a fashion don't, but each and every time he ignored the well-meaning advice. People had begun to stop bothering with his image – it was never going to be improved.

Danny ran his fingers through his hair – he didn't want to use Tuckers brush – and sighed. It was messy but there was nothing he could do about it. He turned to his friend and forced a smile upon his face despite the ravaging emotions running wild in his body. "Yeah, sure, I guess." He answered.

Tucker looked as if he wanted to something else but instead just walked out of his bedroom. Danny shrugged his shoulders and followed his friend, preparing himself for a long day at school.

* * *

"Danny, what happened to Sam?"

As soon as he reached the school grounds he heard the voice that belonged to someone he dreaded speaking to. It belonged to Valerie. It wasn't that she was a bad person or anything – she was just really perceptive. And she wouldn't believe him if he told her that he didn't know what was going on.

"Um, I don't know… why are you asking me?" Danny wouldn't meet her eyes as she fell into step beside him.

"Because Kelly won't tell me and I haven't figured out how to make her crack yet," Valerie explained in frustration. "And I'm really concerned, and you're the one who will most likely know what is going on. After all, you and her are like super best friends."

Danny glanced at Tucker, who seemed to be hiding from Valerie. Danny raised his eyebrows and grinned – he could read Tucker from a mile away. Tucker had a crush on Valerie. "Why are you asking me? What about Tucker over here?"

Valerie blushed, causing Danny to grin even wider as he realized that she returned Tucker's feelings. "He doesn't count," she replied nonchalantly. "Come on, Danny, I know you're just trying to keep me from figuring this out."

"Look," Danny wasn't in the mood to speak to Valerie. "I actually don't know. I'm trying to find out. And you can't make me crack, so I don't know why you're trying. I know nothing."

He left his two friends to themselves as he hurried to catch up with a familiar red-headed girl.

* * *

It seemed that Dash wasn't in the mood to torment Danny today. Either that, or the big old jock actually harbored some pitiful feelings in him. After all, as Danny and Tucker had suspected, the entire school knew of Sam's disappearance. No one seemed to be talking to them very much, despite that. It was just like a normal day, except that the bullies seemed to be feeling sympathetic. It was one good occurrence.

Mr Lancer also seemed to be giving Danny a break. The fat teacher enjoyed to pick on him but it seemed as if Danny was invisible today. Perhaps Lancer had realized that Danny had skipped school a lot recently due to the changes in his Goth friends behaviour. After all, Sam hadn't attended school much this week. Perhaps two days if Danny could recall correctly. Not even that, in fact.

But every hour seemed to drag on as if it were an entire day; every class seemed to go for years on end. Danny was continuously looking at the clock – the sooner that he got out of that hole of a school, the sooner he could get to work on finding Sam. He knew it was stupid to go to school in such a situation but he also knew that there was no other option.

_Hopefully Jazz got enough time to locate Vlad. If we get a reading on his ectoplasmic DNA we'll be able to find Sam…_

But Danny knew that nothing was ever that simple….

* * *

Sam opened her eyes and groaned – her head spun just from doing that simple task. She felt groggy and disoriented, not to mention as if she were about to be sick. The room around her was pitch black, which didn't do anything to help. It just made the room seem as if was spinning faster.

She put her hands to her head in pain. Her memories were foggy and she couldn't seem to form a coherent thought. Something had been done to her mind; something foul and evil. But nothing was clear to her – she couldn't even guess at what had happened. She felt pathetic and unusually weak.

"Ah, Samantha, I see that you have woken."

It was Vlad.

* * *

Danny had gone with Kelly straight from school to her house. Tucker and Jazz had agreed to meet them later that night, right outside the school to discuss the day's discoveries. Unfortunately neither Danny, Kelly nor Tucker had discovered anything that they hadn't previously known. They were hoping that Jazz had been more triumphant.

"I suggest we just blow of school entirely tomorrow and just go for it," Kelly muttered as she pulled a carrot out of her fridge. She didn't seem to mind that her mother was standing only a metre away from her. "After all, the more time we take to actually make a move, the greater the chance of her being hurt is."

Kelly's mother cleared her throat expectantly. "What I suggest is that you tell me what is going on, and why you are considering 'blowing off school', as you put it."

Kelly shrugged at Danny and turned to face her mother. "Danny's best friend got kidnapped by a ghost last night. A half ghost. We need to save her." She stated simply.

Kelly's mother shot Danny a suspicious look before turning back to her daughter. After all, she didn't know of Danny's ghost powers. "And why are you getting involved? Shouldn't you just leave this to professionals?"

"Mum," Kelly interrupted before her mother could continue suggesting useless ideas. "It's okay. Me and Danny can handle it. After all, he's half ghost as well."

Danny winced as Mrs Stager turned to look at him incredulously.

* * *

Valerie sipped on her coffee absently, her mind recalling the events of the past few weeks as her eyes stared into the monitors in front of her. She watched the security screens half-heartedly – nothing interesting had occurred tonight, and wasn't likely to occur in the last ten minutes of her shift.

No matter how hard she tried not to think of him, her mind always wandered back to Danny Fenton. She just knew that he was hiding something from her – something big, something important. She also knew that he wouldn't willingly tell her. Tucker and Sam knew, and Kelly probably did too. But none of those three would budge.

And it wasn't just because of the whole skipping thing. The whole deal with Sam getting kidnapped? Danny knew what was going on, he knew what had happened, and if Valerie was right he was devising some sort of plan to rescue her at this exact moment. But he wouldn't let her know, despite the fact that she and Sam had recently become good friends. Was it because he knew about her past time? Did he know that she was a ghost hunter?

_But why would he have a problem with that? _That was the question that Valerie sought an answer for. But no matter how hard she might try, she could never find one that fit.

Her attention snapped onto the computer screens – for she could see Danny Fenton and Kelly Stager running right past the front of Casper High. The reason they were running was because they were being chased by a humongous ghost cat.

"I have to save them," Valerie told herself in determination, about to press the button on her wrist watch that would activate her ghost hunting suit.

But something strange was happening on the screen – something strange indeed. Around Danny Fenton's waist there appeared a ring of bright light with a slight blue hue to it. Valerie widened her eyes as this ring split into two and began to travel in opposite directions – one went up while the other went down.

* * *

**This chapter has many different changes :):):) Okay. Well, I'd better start typing the next chapter up. Will take a minimum of half an hour since I am going to have dinner and MORE COFFEEE! AND HA, STEPH, YOU CAN'T STOP ME! Not that you'd want to... BUT I CAN HAVE ALL THE COFFEE I WANT! :'( Oh my dear friend, you beautiful coffee beans, how I missed you. All I could have was... ugh, _instant_ coffee. It's disgraceful. It doesn't even deserve to have the same name as proper coffee. It should be called... instant gross. Ugh. But anyway, enough about coffeee.... I want some coffeeeeeeeeeeeeee.... so read this story, and think "I want some coffee" and then review.**

**COFFEE AND REVIEWS PEOPLE! **

**I'M ACCEPTING BOTH!**

**oh. AND STEPH! REMIND ME TO ASK YOU WHY YOU KEEP ASKING ME WHAT YEAR I'M IN... I HAD A DREAM ABOUT IT THE OTHER DAY... (shifty eyes)  
**

**Love the Jirstyn of... sleep! And yes I realise I spelt my name wrong but the backspace key is just too far away...  
**


	21. It Begins

**I think it's right. Not sure. AHHHHHHHHHHH THERE'S SOMETHING CRAWLING DOWN MY BACK! Wait... it's my hair... Well, that's a surprise. Ahhh noooooo don't make me go to school. I'm beginning to get slightly sleepy. Maybe I need more coffee. That would be nice. I had my last coffee... ten minutes ago, and before that... an hour ago, so if I wait ten more minutes I'll make myself another one :D And then I will be up ALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL night :D I love the night. Best part of the day. I can never go to sleep early. Like yesterday, I ate something bad for dinner (and especially gross) and then I had a stomach ache and majorly throbbing headache but nevertheless I was up until 4am. I watched Bleach for a while and then I read The Vampire Armand. :) I haven't read that in a while. Now. I have an itchy armpit... haha, not really. But my arm is itchy because some stupid rank thing bit me. UGH I HATE WEDNESDAYS! I pretty much hate everything.**

**:) Read on my people... oh god my stomach doesn't seem to agree with what I eat. My stomach is beginning to feel slightly strange. Ah well, I shall keep writing!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty**

**It Begins**

* * *

Danny looked at the ghost cat angrily – it had appeared at the school soon after they had and had forced Danny and Kelly to run away to stop it from feasting on Jazz or Tucker. They had run to the front of the school and that was as far as they were going. He let out a deep breath and willed the transformation to occur.

"Ah child, you do remember those video cameras that the school installed, do you not?" The ghost cat reminded him smugly. "I'm guessing that the ghost hunter watching us is entertained by this strange occurrence, eh?"

Danny flinched and spat a curse at the cat as he willingly stopped the transformation. The only ghost hunters that would possibly be sitting in the surveillance room would be either the Guys in White or Valerie. Either way, it would be a disaster if they saw him transform into Danny Phantom. He would just have to fight this cat as a human.

He looked to Kelly and she nodded – they were about to start running again. Danny took off and Kelly followed. He had almost cleared the school grounds when he heard a yelp erupt out behind him. He turned around in panic and saw that Kelly had been injured and was on the ground, clutching her ankle in pain.

"I sprained it," she explained breathily as he bent down to examine it.

Danny nodded grimly. He wasn't about to leave Kelly nor was he going to stay and fight the cat. He would have to pick his girlfriend up and carry her in his arms. He was thankful that he had begun to take his training more seriously. Only four months ago he wouldn't have even been able to lift her in the first place, let alone run with her body.

He slid his arms beneath her body and heaved. But while he was focused on lifting Kelly's body up the ghost cat decided that it would strike. Danny wasn't prepared for the attack and was extremely vulnerable – he had his back to the ghost and was bending over. There was no way he could defend himself.

Within seconds he and Kelly had been swallowed up by the ghost cat and were stuck inside its belly.

* * *

Valerie was watching in shock. If that strange ring of light hadn't appeared around Danny's waist she would have rushed out and saved him and Kelly ages ago. But now she had the feeling that he could handle the ghost cat. There was something very suspicious going on with him.

She gasped as he picked up Kelly and the ghost cat snuck up behind him. "Danny, look up!" she cried to the screen as if she were watching a movie. But of course, Danny couldn't hear her and he didn't look up.

He and Kelly were swallowed by the ghost cat.

"He can handle it," she reminded herself as her finger hovered over the button on her watch.

And she was right. Only seconds later the ghost cat's stomach glowed green. It remained that way for a few suspenseful seconds before the stomach exploded. Pieces of ghost cat flew towards the camera lens and splattered all over the grass. Valerie was not going to clean it up – that wasn't part of her job. Danny and Kelly could clean it up – or Danny could get his 'ghost expert parents' to clean it up for him.

Danny and Kelly remained unharmed. Danny stood right where the ghost cat had once been, Kelly in his arms. She looked slightly surprised and in pain, though Valerie suspected that it was because she had injured her ankle. For a brief second Valerie could've sworn that Danny's eyes had been glowing a bright green but when she blinked they had returned to their usual cloudy blue hue.

"Suspicious," Valerie murmured as she took a seat. She had an urge to follow the two as they disappeared from sight but unfortunately she had to remain in the surveillance room for another twenty minutes.

"I will find out the truth," she spoke to the air in determination; the computer monitor's were her witnesses. "As soon as I get out of here, Danny, I will seek you out. I will not stop until I know your secret."

* * *

Danny placed Kelly on the grass beside his sister before glancing behind him to make sure that he had not been followed. Although his ghost sense was no longer going off he had the feeling that he was either being watched or being followed. He hoped that the school had not installed any security cameras in this area recently – he hadn't had much time to get acquainted with them yet and therefore didn't know exactly where they were. He had a basic idea, but was not entirely certain.

Jazz latched onto Kelly's ankle as though it were a holy item. She rubbed it carefully, hoping not to cause Kelly any pain. Danny smiled as his sister took charge of the situation – she was always the responsible one in these situations. He knew that she'd make a good mother. _But that would be gross, _Danny grimaced as he imagined Jazz having children at her age. _No way._

"What happened?" Tucker asked, unsure of what he should be doing.

Danny looked back to the school before he graced them with an answer. "We led the ghost away, but we couldn't attack it because _someone _was watching the footage that the security cameras were picking up. So we continued to run, Kelly sprained her ankle, and the thing ate us. I exploded the stomach and we ran away. I just hope it can't like, regenerate or something."

"It didn't look very powerful," Jazz commented as she wrapped her headband around Kelly's ankle. "You shouldn't walk on it for a few days," she warned the younger girl.

"Oh, it's okay," Kelly assured her cheerily. "After all, my parents are pretty cool inventors. They'll have some sort of poultice or something to make this better."

"Did you find out where Vlad is?" Danny cut straight to the point before Jazz and Kelly could start a conversation about inventions.

Jazz looked to the grass. "I have bad news and good news," Jazz began. "Which would you like to hear first?"

"Good news," Tucker chose for them all.

Jazz smiled grimly at their eager faces. "I know where Vlad is. I picked up a signal on his ecto-energy fairly easily. Surprisingly, he's not in the Ghost Zone. And he's not in Wisconsin either. In fact, he's in Amity Park. At an abandoned hotel." She informed them.

Danny sighed in relief – it meant that they would be able to rescue Sam, and soon.

"What's the bad news?" Tucker persisted. It seems that he was the only one to remember the fact that Jazz had had both good and bad news.

Jazz bit down on her lip hesitantly before speaking up, a slight waver in her voice. "Sam's not there."

* * *

Keira put the video camera on the ground. She would return to it later. It wasn't necessarily important – she hadn't been able to catch any interesting footage on this tape. Luckily, she had gotten the tape of Danny Phantom transforming into a human at an earlier date. She had handed the tape in to her employer and he had asked for more. But now that the human had discovered something important, Keira was to complete her newest mission – to exterminate the ghost boy.

She was glad that she didn't have Fiona with her at the time – the other girl knew nothing of Keira's secret missions and her secret employer. She wouldn't enjoy explaining the truth to the other girl. Anyway, her employer had forbidden her to tell _anyone _of her missions. And she would follow his rules at all costs – her life was on the line.

Fiona was just a useless accessory, or even a prop. She wasn't needed in the ultimate scheme of things. Perhaps she would be destroyed at a later time but for the moment she was used to maintain the illusion of Keira being a normal girl. After all, Fiona had been made to think that she had been best friends with Keira for many years. It was all a lie.

Keira was a ghost.

* * *

"What?" Danny cried, outraged. He had been so foolish as to hold a small seed of hope close to his heart. That hope had been snubbed out like a weak, fluttering candle. He had thought for just a moment that it was possible to save Sam.

"I tried everything but I couldn't find her presence anywhere. And by anywhere, I mean _anywhere in the entire universe. _I even searched the ghost zone!" Jazz cried in frustration. She looked as though she were close to tears – after all, she did have a ton of pressure sitting upon her slender shoulders.

"It's not your fault," Kelly whispered. It seemed that they had all lost hope with that one sentence. It was up to Danny to restore it – he knew that without hope they didn't have a chance of finding Sam.

"We can still find her," a plan was beginning to form in his head. "After all, we know where Vlad is."

"And Vlad knows where Sam is," Tucker realised. "Danny, you're a genius!"

"But he's not," Danny concluded. "I bet he's found some way to hide Sam from our tracking device, but he didn't even think to conceal himself. Either it's because we're walking straight into a trap, or because he made a mistake."

"So be it," Kelly was beginning to regain her hope. "If it's a trap he's set, then it's a trap he'll get. Only we'll be the ones trapping him. We just need to figure out a way to reverse the trap."

"So here's what we do…"

* * *

Keira hid in the bushes as she heard the group of freaks discuss their discoveries. So they knew that Vlad was hiding Sam from them. And Vlad had accidentally forgotten to cover up his ecto-energy. He had probably concealed his human signature but not the ecto signature. After all, he had assumed that if he hadn't used his ghost powers while the group was searching for him, they wouldn't be able to get a reading on him. He had been wrong.

"Either it's because we're walking straight into a trap, or because he made –"

Keira almost shrieked as she felt a hand tugging at her arm. She felt herself being pulled back from the bushes and into plain sight. The hand on her belonged to none other than the pesky Fiona. If only she hadn't been given orders to preserve the measly human she would've killed her right there and then. She could've discovered a useful piece of information if not for Fiona.

"What are you _doing_?" Fiona hissed beneath her breath at the other girl.

"Um, listening to their conversation?" Keira didn't have the patience to be kind with the pathetic girl. "What's it got to do with you?"

"Keira," Fiona growled as she pulled her further away from the group of teenagers. "That's despicable behaviour! And what's it got to do with me, huh? I'm your best friend!"

"You'd like to think that, wouldn't you?" Keira sneered.

"What has happened to you?" Fiona asked quietly in her most desolate voice. "You used to be nice. You used to be my friend. But now, you… you're just a monster."

Fiona turned her back and briskly walked away. Keira grinned – she had gotten rid of the brat. If she so needed her again she could just apologise – after all, Fiona was just human. She would forgive Keira as soon as she was asked to.

Keira turned back to the area that the teenagers had been last seen. They had gone.

* * *

"Did you hear that?" Kelly interrupted Danny's plan-making. Everyone went silent as they strained to hear whatever it was that Kelly had heard.  
"There are people behind us," Danny realised. "They're talking."

"Let's go somewhere else." Jazz suggested.

Kelly used Danny's shoulder to help her stand on her feet. He joined her and put her arm around his shoulder so she could lean most of her weight on him. "You guys can come to my house," Kelly suggested. "My parents won't mind."

* * *

Keira had returned to the abandoned hotel where Vlad was residing after she had lost sight of Danny Fenton and his friends. She had had more important business to attend to – she didn't have time to look for the four. She hadn't seen Vlad or the prisoner that day but she wasn't concerned and didn't go out of her way to find them.

She instead went to a room on the first floor. It was dark and damp, the sound of water dripping constantly in this room. There was a faint odor to this room – something like decaying animal carcasses. Keira didn't mind the smell – she'd grown used to it.

She grinned and laughed maniacally as she examined the room. She had lined the walls with ghost proof plastic and had gotten rid of the door. The ghost shield was activated by a button on the outside of the room. It was the perfect prison cell for a half ghost.

* * *

**Dun dun dun! End of chapter!!!**

**Anyway. So it really annoyed me when I wrote this chapter. See, I am Australian. I have different spellings for my words. And I was using an american microsoft word sorta thing. And I couldn't be bothered changing it or anything. So each time I typed something it would automatically change it to the american spelling and I'd forget to change it back or I would change it back. But man it killed me. So that is why I switch between saying (this is an example, dunno if it was in the chapter) behavior and behaviour. Either way. Now. I need to finish doing whatever it was that I was doing before this. Apart from having coffeeeee :)**

**I shall write.**

**I AM NOW OFFICIALLY ACCEPTING:**

**COFFEE AND REVIEWS!**

**:D Love from the Kirstyn who is addicted to the amazingness of COFFEE. I'm surprised I haven't really used coffee in this story...  
**


	22. A Conspicuous Spy

**There. I am done that chapter. That EXTREMELY SHORT CHAPTER. But ah well. I couldn't be bothered making it longer. I'm a few chapters behind my plan so I'm thinking there may be 25 chapters in total. Depends on how long the actual battle goes for. I haven't decided yet. Ah I'm not in the mood for a nice little chatty... chat. My back hurts. My arm is itchy. And I have no coffee. Oh, and I won't update this story. I have to update Changing Their Fate and Vortex of Deception first. Hopefully I'll get both of them done tomorrow. Otherwise this won't be updated for two days. And I really want to finish this story. Really badly. I like finishing stories. It feels like a great achievement... and i am tired...**

**Read ON!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-One**

**A Conspicuous Spy**

* * *

Valerie put down her empty Styrofoam coffee cup hastily. After many long, dragging minutes filled with anticipation for the hunt she had finally finished her shift. Nothing out of the ordinary had occurred since Danny and Kelly had passed by twenty minutes earlier. She only saw the usual passersby – just a few children and two inconspicuous men. But now there were three hours until her curfew – three hours during which she could do whatever she wished. And what she wished to do was to spy on Danny Fenton.

Anyone on the outside would probably think that she was a Danny-crazed stalker. But she knew that by being discreet and following Danny wherever he went she would find out the truth about him. She knew that this was her best chance and her only option if she wanted to know what he was hiding from her. She would find out what was really going on with Sam.

"But how do I find him?" Valerie contemplated a few possibilities as she locked the school doors behind her. None of the possibilities were practical. Most of them had something to do with flying ninja monkeys from outer space. "After all, he could be anywhere."

Her mind flashed back to the moment that Kelly had sprained her ankle earlier that night. Danny had picked her up and carried her away in his arms – she had been in too much pain to move by herself. So the reasonable thing for him to have done would have been to seek help for his girlfriend. And there was one place that he _knew_ that Kelly would be taken care of, and would be left in good hands.

"They've gone to Kelly's house," She concluded proudly. "But where does Kelly live?"

She could remember Kelly Stager's home phone number off by heart. It was the sort of thing that Valerie was especially talented at – remembering important details. With the advanced technology that Mr Masters had so generously supplied her with, Valerie would be able to pinpoint Kelly's exact house number with only that particular information. After all, her tracker was incredible – if you inserted a sample of someone's DNA into the side of the tracker it would be able to locate that person in mere seconds. Unfortunately, Valerie didn't have a sample of Danny or Kelly's DNA and wouldn't be able to get one for a little while.

Valerie punched Kelly's phone number into her portable handheld tracker. It usually resided in her shoes – it was so small that it could comfortably fit inside. Only seconds after she had instructed it to begin the search there was a response from the tracker. "Bingo," Valerie grinned in success. The tracker automatically planned out the quickest route to Kelly's house. It was similar to a GPS in that way.

Valerie changed into her red ghost-hunting suit and jumped upon her hover board. She glanced at the tracker once before she shot off eagerly into the night sky, flying directly towards Kelly Stager's house.

* * *

"Would you like any refreshments?" Mrs Stager enquired as she followed the four into Kelly's large, eccentric bedroom.

Danny headed straight for Kelly's queen sized bed – first he placed her slight body atop it and then joined her. He moved to put his arm around her comfortingly. "No, thanks." He replied with a nod in the direction of Kelly's mother.

"I'll be right back, though," Mrs Stager informed them all. "I just have to dig around in the attic and then I'll return to apply the poultice to your injury." She assured them of this before she turned and left the room to a slightly awkward silence.

"Nice room," Tucker broke the silence, making light conversation with Kelly despite the fact that the two weren't friends. He took a seat on the only chair in the entire room – the one that was resting against Kelly's wooden desk – and turned to face Danny and Kelly.

"Um, thanks." Kelly blushed, clearly abashed.

"So tell us the plan," Jazz urged her bother on as she planted herself atop Kelly's desk. "You did have a plan, didn't you?"

"Of course," Danny replied insolently. "It's a simple plan, too. Tucker can sneak into the abandoned hotel – Vlad doesn't know him all that well – and then he can release some extremely irritating ghosts. That will cloud Vlad's senses, allowing Kelly and I to sneak inside. We will scour the area for Sam while you, Jazz, will run more scans from the top of the building. Anyone willing to suggest something to improve it?"

There was a muffled sound from the window, causing all four to start. Tucker crept over silently to check out the area surrounding Kelly's house while Mrs Stager re-entered the bedroom and moved over to examine Kelly's ankle.

"Guys," The tone of Tucker's voice told the others of the impending doom that he had discovered outside. "We've got a problem."

"What is it, Tuck?" Danny wasn't exactly anticipating his best friends response.

Tucker took a deep breath and turned to face Danny. "Someone's been spying on us. I just saw a black booted foot disappear out here…"

* * *

Valerie cursed to herself as she ducked beneath some shrubs for cover. She hadn't been able to hear too much so she had tried to move closer to the window. Unfortunately she had moved too far, too fast, and had made a noise, alerting the four to her presence. _Such a good spy I am,_ Valerie had thought bitterly as she had fled from sight. When she had peeked out of the bushes she had seen Tucker's face appear at the window. She just hoped that he hadn't seen her.

There was one thing that she knew for certain – Danny and friends were planning on attacking Vlad Masters, the harmless billionaire that had helped her start her ghost-hunting career. She couldn't just sit by and watch as an innocent man such as Vlad was harmed. Tucker had been volunteered by Danny as the distraction. Valerie gnawed at her lower lip. Tucker was going to get himself killed, somehow.

* * *

"Master," Keira bowed lowed as she entered her boss's personal rooms. "I have come to seek your permission to begin the entrapment."

"At what time do you wish to proceed?" her boss asked her quietly, his voice entirely calm and unemotional.

Keira had to think about it for only a second. Her answer had to satisfy her master without interrupting his own plans. She knew that there was only one appropriate time for what she had planned. "Tomorrow night at six."

"Granted," the light from a candle shone on her master's face. He laughed maniacally as she left the room.

_Fruit loop,_ she insulted him from within the confines of her own mind.

* * *

Valerie yawned sleepily. Nothing interesting had happened as of yet. They had remained in Kelly's house for a further hour and didn't seem to be planning on leaving. Valerie was due to return home in a few minutes but if no one had left Kelly's house by that time she too would stay. She had to find something out. She wouldn't be able to face them again until she had figured it all out for herself. They would think her ignorant.

She ducked behind a tree as she heard the front door of Kelly's house open and then slam shut once again. She peered around the trunk anxiously – she knew that a tree wasn't good cover but it was the nearest thing that she would be able to hide behind. She could see two people standing on Kelly's doorstep but wasn't close enough to examine their features and tell them apart. She assumed that it was Danny and Tucker because they both looked like males.

She threw herself flat against the ground and slithered like a snake to the cover of some small plants that were located in the neighbour's front yard. Now that she was close enough she could confirm their identities – definitely Tucker and Danny. After all, they didn't have long hair. Both Jazz and Kelly did, though.

"So, how about some super speed back to my house?" Tucker suggested as he nudged Danny.

"Fine," Danny wasn't particularly happy about this suggestion – he sounded weary and disappointed. It was painstakingly clear that something wasn't going the way he had wanted.

Valerie was slightly confused – Danny didn't own a car or any other fast mode of transport, so what was Tucker talking about? It clearly made sense to him and Danny.

Valerie almost gasped as the same two rings that she had seen appear around his waist earlier on the security camera returned. They were the same brilliant hue of blue and did the same thing as earlier on – one travelled up his body while the other travelled down. Only this time they didn't disappear halfway through his body. They only disappeared when Danny Fenton had finished transforming into Danny Phantom.

Valerie fainted.

* * *

Fiona slammed her bedroom door shut. She knew that something strange was going on with her friend Keira but she couldn't figure out what it was. Something wasn't right. She didn't usually act the way she had that night… _did she? _Fiona squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head in frustration.

For some reason, she couldn't remember any of the times that she and Keira had spent with each other when they were younger. She couldn't remember how they had successfully created their own television show about ghosts and had gotten it aired for the public to see. She didn't even _like_ doing news reports on ghosts. She thought that it would be better to leave them all alone. But Keira seemed to think otherwise.

Even after Fiona was away from Keira for only an hour, she couldn't seem to remember her friend's face. It was as if the friend that she had grown so close to during her short life had changed, had disappeared, and had been replaced by some unspeakable monster.

_What happened to you, Keira?_

_

* * *

_

Danny had decided that he wasn't going to go to school on Tuesday morning. Tucker would have stayed home but his parents wouldn't allow it. He couldn't skip school otherwise he would be grounded for a month and all of his technology would be taken away from him. Danny wasn't worried about being punished by his parents – they were probably going to publicly disown him sometime soon so it didn't exactly matter if they were angry with him for skipping school or not.

Kelly's mother had decided that Kelly should at least turn up for school. She had said that it was okay if Kelly left later, though. She had even offered to sign Kelly out of school to keep her from getting into too much trouble. Danny envied his girlfriend – he wished his parents were as accepting and understanding as hers.

Jazz had to go to a lecture in the morning but she had the entire afternoon off so she would help Danny prepare for their attack on Vlad, even though they couldn't exactly prepare for a trap. After all, Tucker had seen someone at the window the night before – it could have been a spy for Vlad and he could know all their plans by now. But they still had to give it a go.

"Danny."

Danny turned around – he had been walking around the town aimlessly, letting his mind wander through things. Behind him was Valerie, who had apparently decided not to go to school either. She didn't look very well, causing Danny to become concerned. _Perhaps she is sick._

"What's wrong?" He asked her quietly.

She caught up to him and stood face to face with him, glaring into his chilly blue eyes. "I can't believe you didn't tell me," she whispered fiercely, looking as though she were about to lay a slap upon his face.

"Tell you what?" Danny was sincerely bewildered. What hadn't he told her that had made her so angry with him?

"Why didn't you tell me," Valerie paused, swallowing audibly. "That you were Danny Phantom?"

* * *

**Bahaa. That was meant to happen in chapter 19. But I was too... slow :) Ah well. Okay. So I'll work on the next chapter. I might get some spare time to do it another day. Maybe tomorrow morning. I'm not working until Saturday so I've got plenty of time to write. But I have homework. Lots. And. Lots. Of. Homework. Now there was something I felt like saying but now I can't be bothered. The coffee has left my body :'(**

**Reviews?**

**Coffee Donations?**

**Love from a coffee-less coffee addict who wants coffee...............  
**


	23. Entrapped

**Hi guys! I've got good news, and bad news.**

**Which would you like to hear first? Good news!**

**Okay, well I'M ALLOWED TO HAVE COFFEE NOW! I found out that the reason I felt so damn sick was because of some weird lollies that "may induce vomiting". So I stopped having them. And other good news, this chapter has been updated, it's slightly longer than the last chapter, blah blah. **

**Bad news? I can't remember the bad news! Ah well.**

**So anyway, no long chit chats at the beginning. I'm going to try to get this story finished over the weekend :) :) But I can't spend all of my time writing because I have to do homework, such a shame. Ah well, I'll live. It's all necessary... now to consult my plan... and to see how many pages the story is now! ... where has my plan gone!??!!?!??!?!?! :O:O:O:O!!! NOO! Oh, wait, it's in my bed... I made my bed while it was still inside :) Always happens.**

**So... there will be 4-5 more chapters! :) The number just keeps increasing. But never you worry - I will finish this story. Okay. SO anyway, here's the chapter... and the story is now officially**

**134 PAGES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-Two**

**Entrapped**

* * *

Danny stared at Valerie in absolute shock. He couldn't see how she could have possibly found out about his secret identity. She couldn't have known for too long because she would have confronted him earlier if she had – after all she wasn't very happy with him for keeping her in the dark about it. Either Tucker and his big mouth had blabbed or she had been the one spying on the group the previous afternoon.

This meant that it was probable that Vlad was still oblivious to their plans.

"What?" he realised with a start that he hadn't responded to her question.

She glared at him and shifted impatiently. She looked so angry that steam appeared to be radiating from her body. "I know that you are Danny Phantom. I want to know why you didn't tell me and then I want you to fill me in on everything. Every single little detail."

Danny was uncomfortable in such an open location where just about anyone could hear or bear witness to their conversation. He raided his mind for places within a convenient distance where Valerie wouldn't feel cornered by him. After all, like with dogs, when cornered she was most likely to defend herself and fight back. She would begin to attack Danny.

"How about we talk about this somewhere more… private," Danny suggested, still trying to think of somewhere appropriate. "Perhaps we could go to that new coffee shop nearby? What's it called..? Amity Caps?"

"Fine," Valerie didn't particularly like the fact that she was agreeing with Danny but knew that he was right on this one occasion. Anyway, if she wanted him to talk she would have to play the game by his rules. And if he didn't talk after that, she would have to beat the answers out of him. She wasn't worried about injuring him.

The coffee shop – which was fairly new – was located on the next street and only took a maximum of two minutes to reach. The tireless walk was carried out in silence, each awkward moment stretching out for longer than it actually was. No eye contact was made between the two and they walked a distance apart from each other, their bodies tense.

Danny politely held the door open for Valerie, not expecting any gratitude from her. He didn't even receive a 'thank you'. She walked boldly into the coffee shop and helped herself to a secluded booth in the corner of the café. Danny shrugged his shoulders and took a seat on the opposite side. He looked around the café, noticing that it was next to empty – after all, it was only early in the morning – and took a peek at the menu.

Neither of them began to talk. There was an unspoken agreement between the two – they both decided that it would be best to wait until they were served before they begun the story.

"Hi there, are you ready to order?"

The waitress was young – in her early twenties at the latest. She had bleached blonde hair that was secured by a red ribbon behind her head and a small brown had sat open her head. Her shirt was the colour of coffee while her apron and pants were a dark chocolate brown colour. Danny had to admit that she was a fairly attractive lady.

"Yes," Valerie was polite to the waitress but Danny could hear an undertone of impatience seeping through her calm façade. "I'd like a piece of green apple sponge cake and a pot of orange pekoe tea, thanks."

The waitress jotted the order down before turning expectantly to Danny, a toothy smile upon her face. He shrugged his shoulders and leaved back into the seat, glancing at the menu. "A cappuccino and a chocolate chip biscuit for me, please."

The waitress smiled and danced away from their table. Her shoulders were rigid – she had sensed the hostility between Danny and Valerie.

"Okay, speak up ghost boy." Valerie spat as she glared hatefully towards him.

_It seems that everyone hates me, these days, _Danny realised sorrowfully. "Well, if you want to know why I just so happened to not tell you the biggest secret of my entire life, well, here's your answer. Look at you – you looked like I murdered a loved one of yours. I knew you would react like this. It would have been foolish to tell you." Danny pointed out as he gazed off into the distance.

"Here are your drinks," the waitress had returned and was being followed by an older man who also worked at the coffee shop. He was carrying their food and quickly placed them in front of the two.

"Wow, that was quick," Valerie complimented them before they departed.

Danny picked up his spoon and shovelled a dollop of white, foamy froth into his mouth. Valerie poured her tea and took a sip before she looked up at who used to be one of her best friends. He even used to be her 'crush'. She wasn't quite sure how she felt about him anymore, however. She wasn't sure if she should hate him or forgive him. "Go on," she mumbled.

Danny broke off a bit of his mega cookie and popped it into his mouth. It was purely delightful and caused his stomach to groan eagerly. "Right. I became half ghost last year by going into my parent's ghost portal and turning it on while I was inside. I half killed myself, blah blah blah. Ghost began to escape so I made it my job to keep them from causing harm to our town. We all lived happily ever after. The end."

Valerie calmly sipped at her tea before looking up at him – it seemed that her patience had returned. The cold look that she sent him caused him to shift uncomfortably in his seat. "What is happening with Sam?" she asked, knowing that his answer to that question would be different this time.

"I seriously don't know," Now he was beginning to get frustrated. "Wow, this is good coffee. Sam's been kidnapped by a ghost. Oh, oh, you'll love this! You know Vlad Masters, guy who gave you all of your ghost hunting equipment stuff? Well, he's also half ghost. In fact, he's the most evil ghost running around at the moment. Vlad Masters is Vlad Plasmius."

"Lies," Valerie gasped. She believed him, though.

"Not at all," Danny insisted. "Anyway, Plasmius is the one who kidnapped Sam. We know where he's holding her and are planning to free her this afternoon. But for some reason it seems as though she has been placed under some sort of mind control by him. You can come with us if you want – we would really use your help."

"No thanks." Valerie declined the offer as she set down her empty tea cup. She took one more bite of her cake before standing up and leaving the café.

Danny didn't hear another word out of her – not even a 'goodbye'.

* * *

Keira looked at her watch impatiently. She didn't care what her master ordered her to do – she couldn't wait until that night to activate her plan. Things were moving too slowly for her liking. She needed to have something to do now – and surely he wouldn't get _too _angry if she just went ahead and disobeyed him. It wasn't that big a deal, after all.

She pressed a button on a small communication device that was located next to her watch. "Commence plan prison," she barked into her communicator.

* * *

Kelly was in the middle of physical education. Without Danny by her side to cheer her up it was hard to bear the torture inflicted upon her by the relentless Mr Herwinkle. She knew that her physical skills all needed improving – and it would help her with her ghost fighting as well, according to Danny – she couldn't bring herself to actually like the idea of running around continuously for almost an hour.

Today they weren't doing running, thankfully. But instead they were doing basic physical activity skills such as push-ups, sit-ups, chin-ups and other methods of torture. Nothing could possibly make this hour any better for her. She knew for sure that Danny wasn't just going to miraculously show up and help her out. They were getting assessed on their fitness. Kelly wasn't in the mood.

Just before it was her turn to demonstrate what she could do, Kelly was relieved to find her ghost sense going off. She stuck up her hand eagerly, trying to get the attention of the sporty teacher. He was irritated as he gestured for her to speak.

"I need to go to the bathroom," she squeaked, sounding as though she were urgent to relieve her bladder.

He frowned suspiciously but nodded before turning back to the unfortunate kid currently under his observation.

Kelly jogged out of the gym with a grin upon her face. She had never been this happy about a ghost terrorising people. She would have to thank it after she had beaten it senseless.

She pushed the heavy gym door open and turned left, preparing to enter the janitor's closet so that she could transform in privacy. Instead, a hand clapped over her mouth and she felt a searing pain in her neck. Her cries were muffled as the floor spun out from beneath her and she lost consciousness.

* * *

Tucker, unlike Kelly, was having a surprisingly good time in the computer lab. He was currently designing a program that would speed up his PDA and update the tracking software. It was almost as advanced as the Fenton's tracker – and theirs was the size of a cupboard. He grinned as he adjusted a few of the settings and finalised the task.

He pressed the download button on his PDA satisfactorily.

"Tucker Foley, you're wanted in the principal's office."

Tucker spun around in shock. Standing behind him was a cute girl who was perhaps one year younger than him. She had midnight, short black hair that was spiked with gel and curiously bright green eyes. Her skin was pale and her expression was that of innocence. She wasn't in his class – instead she was just running a message for someone too slack to do it themselves.

"How long will I be?" Tucker asked. He wasn't sure what he had done to annoy the principal this time but suspected that it had something to do with Danny.

"Oh, the principal said that he only needed to talk to you for a second. You could just leave that there," she indicated to the PDA with a finger. "So that it can finish updating or whatever. No one should touch it."

"Yeah," Tucker agreed, not noticing that the young girl had spoken about a _male _principal. They only had one principal – Principal Ishiyama – and she was clearly female.

Tucker followed her out of the classroom and turned towards the principal's office. He didn't even see or hear his attacker – one minute he was walking towards Ishiyama's office, and the next he was lying in pain upon the floor. He groaned as he felt himself falling into an endless abyss.

* * *

Jazz had been visiting the library more frequently than usual. She had found a few particularly interesting library books on ghosts lately and had been studying up on the facts during her free time. She had been attending a lecture at her university but had realised that she was unable to concentrate during such a trialling time. She had instead come to the library to relax with some of her closest friends – the books surrounding her.

_**There is a certain type of ghost that can be employed by those more powerful if they so decide to summon it. It is an extremely powerful ghost but its powers were bound by a potent wizard many thousands of years ago. This ghost is known as Von Sniaetch, and her powers are particularly influential upon humans. Some of her abilities include…**_

Jazz looked up from the book curiously as she heard the sound of snapping wood in front of her. She didn't see anything there but noticed that the library had grown unusually vacant. There had been about five people sitting in the same section as she was in when she had started reading that page. There was no way that all of them could vanish so swiftly without her even noticing their disappearance.

She stood up, feeling slightly spooked. She began to walk silently towards the front desk to where there were always two librarians seated just to assure herself that there was nothing wrong. She just had an overactive imagination. _I am just too worrying, _she reminded herself as she walked past another bookshelf.

She stopped dead as the front desk came into view. There was no one there.

"Surprise, surprise."

She spun around as she heard the echo in the voice – she had come to recognise it as a ghost feature and her ears had became fairly sensitive to the sound.

She cried out as she felt something punch her intensely right in the centre of the face. She fell down to the library floor, unconscious.

* * *

Danny had gotten hold of a new cell phone – he had paid for it with the money that he had left on his bank card. He sighed as he inserted the sim card into the already-charged phone. One day he was going to have to get a job to sustain his money. Otherwise he would soon find himself in debt.

He dialled Kelly's number first – it was lunch time and she was the one who was most likely to respond. She was also the one who he would rather talk to at such a time. He had been wandering aimlessly around the outskirts of Amity Park, pondering a few things. He wanted to talk to her about the Valerie situation.

Kelly didn't answer her phone. And neither did Jazz or Tucker when he tried to call them. He tried many times but each time their phones just rang out. It was quite strange and extremely disconcerting. He suspected that they had been attacked by someone or something. It was likely that the attacker was one of Vlad's goons, and more importantly, a ghost.

"You got that right,"

Danny's ghost sense went off, but he found that he couldn't react fast enough. By the time that he had even thought of transforming into Danny Phantom, he was on the floor. Only seconds later, he lost all awareness of the world around him.

* * *

**Yeah I was originally going to put more in, so that you found out exact what 'Plan Prison' was even though you can probably guess and then I'd do something else, but I decided it would take too long and that I didn't have the patience for it at the moment. So I'll instead put that in the next chapter and then post this chapter up here now before I go to watch TV for an hour, practise my guitar and then come back. If I feel like it. And I should have the next chapter of this story up here tonight. I am fully devoted to finishing this story by the end of next week, if not the weekend.**

**Though I have a million other things I must do... I have to read Silence of the Lambs, finish The Vampire Armand, watch Bleach, watch Death Note (which I won't get around to, I know), clean out my files, do that japanese homework, watch Armageddon and write a speech on that and Terminator 2, watch three thriller movies and analyse them... and that would probably be it... I hope. I have to update my other two stories as well, but I'll get around to it eventually. Okay, well, that's it....**

**There was something I was going to say to Steph down here but now I can't remember :):) How fun. Anyway, see you when my next chapter is up!**

**REVIEWS, PLEASE PEOPLE?!**

**Love from a newly addicted coffee addict who can freely enjoy her coffee whenever she so feels like coffeeing it up a coffeee... :)  
**


	24. Out of the Darkness into the Light

**Ugh. I'm having problems with Microsoft Word and it's really annoying me. First off, I tried to save this document. And it came up with "windows cannot complete the due to a file permission error" and so I click ok and then it says "Windows encountered a problem while trying to save the document. Do you want Word to save the document as C:\blah blah and mark the file to be recovered the next time it is recovered?" So I clicked yes. I closed Word, then reopened it, tried to save the repair and it says "check the drive to make sure the door is closed and it contains the correct disk or CD." I WASN'T USING A DISK.**

**So I just decided not to mess around with it and copy and paste the whole thing into one of my already uploaded documents and here we are! I have the biggest toothache in the world, but I proudly present to you, chapter twenty three!**

**Oh, and if anyone knows where the name of the chapter comes from (Out of the Darkness, into the Light - it's from a tv show or something because it sounds so familiar, maybe an episode title or something but i can't figure it out) i would greatly appreciate it if you told me :P:P Anyway, here you are. I hope you enjoy. I think it'd be able 140 pages now :)**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-Three**

**Out of the Darkness into the Light**

* * *

Danny groaned as his head throbbed agonizingly. The pain shooting through his was excruciating. It was only his head that ached, thankfully. The rest of his body seemed to be functioning perfectly fine. Apart from a dull ache in his limbs – which meant that he had been overexerting himself lately, which he already knew – he felt ready for battle. And a battle would surely ensue.

"Danny, you're awake." Kelly whispered, her small voice resonating throughout the room.

"Where are we?" With every passing second his head was getting clearer and the pain was dimming. He realised that he was leaning against a wall made out of some sort of smooth glass, yet it had a different texture to it. It felt slightly like… plastic, except it felt thicker and stronger.

"I don't know," Kelly confided in him, her voice tinged with panic. She obviously understood the fact that they were in trouble and that it was most likely Vlad had them in his grasp. But they couldn't be certain – Danny didn't know about Kelly, but he knew that he hadn't been attacked by Plasmius. They could be dealing with an altogether new ghost, one more powerful than ever before.

"Danny, Kelly?" It was Jazz. She seemed strong and confident – she had been awake for a few minutes at least.

"Jazz, you're here too?" Kelly cried in surprise. "I thought it was just me and Danny, you know, since we are glowing… wait… we're glowing!?"

"Yeah, I noticed that." It seemed that Tucker had also been captured and stuffed into this damp prison cell. "It woke me up. Thanks guys, thanks a lot. I was having a very nice dream."

"Was it about Valerie?" Danny raised his eyebrows and smirked in the direction of his friend's voice. He was told to shut up and laughed, picturing the blush that was creeping up his friend's face.

"So why are you glowing?" Jazz asked slowly, ignoring Danny's attempt to patronise Tucker.

"I don't know," Danny admitted, instantly becoming serious. "I think it has something to do with these weird walls. I'm pretty sure they're ghost proof. I suspect that is why both Kelly and I are glowing – they're blocking our powers. See? We're both leaning against the wall, but when I move…" Danny shifted away from the wall and stopped glowing. "It stops," he finished as he returned to his earlier position.

"Yeah, the walls are ghost proof," Kelly confirmed, completely sure of herself. "I tried to fly through them earlier but it wouldn't let me use any of my powers. I can't even change into my ghost form while in here. It's pretty powerful stuff. That's why I'm worried."

"I'm sure we're just in the abandoned hotel with Vlad. I mean seriously, who else would shove us into a prison cell? It's no worries – we'll beat Vlad easily. He's just an insane old fruit loop." Danny assured them with completely confidence in himself and their abilities.

"I think not," the voice was female and sounded from outside the cell.

The lights flashed on and they saw that there was a television screen in the corner of the room. On that television screen stood a girl who both Danny and Kelly found irritatingly familiar. Danny scratched his head while Kelly cursed silently to herself. Both Jazz and Tucker were utterly confused and decided to remain quiet.

"It's that girl who tried to interview us," Kelly told them bitterly. "I guess that was just a hoax, huh?"

"Yep," Her name was Keira. "That was my human disguise. But now, you shall see who I really am."

Suddenly her skin was peeled away from her body to reveal what lay underneath. Her human guise dropped, Keira jumped into the air and cackled evilly. She was a hideous ghost, that was for sure. She was a long, weasel like ghost with orange, slimy skin and rough patches of cobalt fur scattered about her body. She had seven dangly limbs that seemed to be arms though she had no hands – the ends of her arms were frayed. She had one and a half eyes – both were the colour of dried blood – and a large, gaping mouth.

"Keira is a ghost." Jazz pointed out the obvious in shock. Although she hadn't been there when Danny and Kelly had been interviewed by Keira and Fiona, she had still seen a few of their shows. Her parents insisted on watching every single program that featured ghosts. "But… what about Fiona?"

"Fiona is mortal," Keira spat in disgust. "She is oblivious. But moving on to the new hot subject – you four. You four shall all face your death."

Keira cackled once more.

* * *

Valerie was sitting on a park bench, chewing absently on an apple that she had purchased from the supermarket at least an hour ago. She felt selfish for not offering to help Danny and his friends find Sam – after all, the Goth had nothing to do with her dispute with the half ghost – but she had been so infuriated when Danny had asked for her help. It could be possible that Sam's life would be lost due to her lack of compassion for the other girl.

But Sam had kept this secret from her as well. They all had – even Tucker. She had been friends with them for such a long time – there was no reason for them not to tell her. It was as if she had intruded upon their little group, and they had been trying to get away from her all this time. She felt alone and unwanted. Her emotions were running wild – one minute she hated herself for not seeing the truth, the other she felt sorry for herself for being so rejected by all four of them. She still didn't understand how she felt about Danny.

But Sam needed her help, and desperately. Valerie had sat and watched as Sam had undergone these strange changes – she hadn't done anything to help or comfort her friend. But now she wasn't just going to sit around while everyone else watched – she was going to put her feelings beside and act.

She pulled out her tracker, this time for a new purpose. She had stolen a piece of hair from Danny when she had slapped him – this she inserted into her little handset. There was a small flash of light before the words 'DNA confirmed' appeared on the screen. The scanner searched for Danny Fenton's location, taking a maximum of half a minute to find him. He was somewhere nearby, in an old abandoned hotel that was in the process of rotting and falling down.

"That's where they said Vlad was…" Valerie realised.

She pressed a button on the side of the small device and an option appeared on the screen – _Hack into security cameras? Yes/no._ Valerie pressed the 'yes' button – she wanted to see if they really did need her help or not. She'd hate to go charging into battle when the fight had actually already finished and Sam had already been saved. It would have made her feel worse than if she had not shown up at all.

A figure appeared on the screen, someone slightly familiar. "Keira, from that ghost show…" Valerie realised with interest. What could that little girl possibly be doing in a ghost-infected hospital? Of course, she could be shooting a segment for her next show but surely Danny and the others would have evacuated any residing civilians?

Suddenly, Keira's skin just peeled off – it was quite similar to someone peeling the skin off of an onion. Underneath the girl there was a horrific ghost – one unlike any other that Valerie had ever seen. Valerie could understand why it hated ghosts so much and ran the whole ghost news show – she'd hate humans if _she_ was that ugly.

Valerie caught the end of a discussion that Keira had been having with someone beyond the view of the security camera. She turned up the volume as high as it could go and concentrated on Keira's words.

"Fiona is mortal," Keira spat in disgust. "She is oblivious. But moving on to the new hot subject – you four. You four shall all face your death."

Valerie realised with a shock that the four must have been Danny, Kelly, Tucker and Jazz. They were about to be attacked by Keira. She had to do something to help them before it was

* * *

Valerie rang the doorbell impatiently. _They can take care of themselves for a while, _she reminded herself as she shifted feet. She could hear someone racing towards the front door and breathed a sigh of relief – she would soon be on her way to save her friends.

_I thought you hated them, especially Danny, because they all lied to you and didn't trust you? _A part of her mind argued scornfully.

_Shut up._

The door was pulled open and there stood Fiona. "Hi, Fiona, you don't know me," Valerie began hesitantly – what if the girl didn't believe her – before she continued. "But I have something of the utmost importance to speak to you about. It involves your little friend, Keira."

Fiona panicked slightly – had Keira done something terrible to get herself in trouble? Or was this girl knocking at her door for other reasons? "Oh, okay. Well, come in. We can go up to my bedroom, if you'd like." Fiona offered politely to the complete stranger.

Valerie didn't examine the house as she followed Fiona up the stairs and to her bedroom. She wasn't interested in how rich this little girl was and couldn't bear to waste time doing such trivial things. She had to hurry up and get to business – every second she wasted meant that her friends grew closer to dying. She might not be able to save them in time if she didn't hurry up.

Fiona closed the door behind her and offered Valerie a seat – Valerie declined with a shake of her head. Fiona shrugged her shoulders and went to sit on the end of her bed, waiting for the older girl to commence speaking.

"My name is Valerie Gray and I am a ghost hunter," Valerie introduced herself reluctantly – she had never told another person of that important part of her life. "And I have to tell you this really simply because I am in a hurry – my friends are in danger – but here goes. Your friend, Keira, is a ghost."

"I know." Fiona answered simply. She hadn't known but now that this Valerie girl spoke of it, it made so much sense. She had never had a friend named Keira – it had all been an illusion. Some ghosts were capable of doing that – she had found that out during one of her shows. It explained everything so well. She couldn't remember being friends with Keira as a child, though her mind told her that she was.

"You know?" Valerie cried in shock. "Well, you're friend is about to kill my friends!"

"She's not my friend," Fiona was beginning to get angry. Keira, the ghost, had used her! "I have to get revenge, I just have to. She fooled me, she used me, and she made me feel like an _idiot_. I must destroy her."

Valerie smiled as a plan began to form in her mind. "This could work to our advantage, you know."

Fiona raised an eyebrow at the ghost hunter.

* * *

Danny was now worried. Despite Keira's outer appearances she seemed to be a fairly powerful ghost. After all, she had tricked them into thinking that she was a human and then she had gone and attacked them. She had overcome every single one of them and dragged them into this ghost proof prison cell, where she had kept them. And there was no door in the room, either. No one had noticed that one missing detail until the lights had turned on.

"What do we do?" Kelly whispered. She wasn't about to sit around as they all slowly died. She knew that something had to be done, and she looked to Danny for suggestions.

Danny was sick of being the leader – he was sick of being the one that they always depended on. He hated the pressure he felt when they looked to him for ideas when he didn't have a clue about anything that was going on. Not only did they have to free themselves from this prison cell, but they also had to terminate Keira's existence before finding and freeing Sam from Vlad's grasp.

He paused in his thoughts as he heard a slight commotion from outside. The walls, unfortunately, weren't clear – he couldn't see what was going on. It could be that there death was waiting for them or that someone had unexpectedly come to their rescue.

There was a loud crash as Danny felt himself being thrown against the opposite wall. He smelt smoke as he turned around in pain and saw a massive hole in the wall that he had just been leaning against. And when the smoke parted, he saw a figure standing in the hole.

Valerie had come to save them.

* * *

**Thank you Steph for submitting the review that you submitted, you gave me the idea for half of this chapter :) I was just sitting there, thinking "I've written 700 words. I can't be bothered doing anymore" when I read your review and then got the best idea ever :) Ow, same old toothache. I think I might go and watch a movie now. I have a massively sore neck. Anyway, next chapter gets into the whole battle thing, which I suck at, so there's about 3 more chapters to go in total. Aren't you excited?? It's almost finished. You'll find out the truth of what was happening with Sam (you know, how she was weird, then the fire thing, and then kidnapped by Vlad, something has to be up) and yeah. And then I shall finish another story before I start rewriting I'm Not The Same As You :) :) And before I finish the other stories I have muchness to do.**

**Good bye, my people....**

**REVIEW!**

**God I hate it when it becomes a new month... my stats have gone down so much... :'( Ah well.**

**Goodbye my little juniper trees...  
**


	25. The Battle

**Heyo! Hows my peoples doing!? I just realised one small detail...**

**I'm working Monday, Tuesday, I have band after school on Wednesday, Thursday I'm working and Friday I have to go mother's day shopping so... I won't have much time to write... especially since I have brickloads of homework to do... or I will do... And I haven't even done my homework for this weekend. I'll figure it out later, but this story won't be affected by my very busy week. Well, not too busy. But yeah. So I am going to hopefully write another chapter tonight and then finish the story tomorrow. If that is possible. I might finish the story tonight, even. It all depends on how much time I spend on writing and what else I do and how easily it all comes to me.**

**There's either going to be one more chapter and an epilogue, or more likely two chapters and an epilogue, or just two chapters... I'll have to figure it out. But next chapter is definitely NOT the last chapter. I can't tie together all the loose ends in the next chapter. It's just impossible. But anyway, read on my puppets!**

**I feel like making a DNAngel AMV.... Hmm...  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-Four**

**The Battle**

* * *

Fiona hadn't seen where the girl named Valerie had disappeared to – she focused all of her attention at the appalling sludge floating in front of her. Its eyes were reflecting irritation – Keira had obviously hoped that Fiona would have been too dense to discover the truth about her apparent best friend. The ghost should have realised that after spending so much time with a human, the human would begin to get suspicious of previously mentioned ghost.

Keira wasn't entirely sure of her assumption – Fiona hadn't admitted to knowing that the ghost was her friend. "GRR!" her jaw snapped as she tried to make herself seem fierce and almighty. But Fiona already knew the truth – Keira's efforts were wasted on her.

"I know the truth." Fiona informed her calmly, hoping that the ghost hunting weapon that Valerie had supplied her with could be trusted to protect her. Otherwise she was walking straight towards her death. "I know everything. That you were only posing as my best friend – that Keira never did exist."

"That's right," the monster growled, spittle hanging from its jaw. "I am Palindrome."

Fiona cocked an eyebrow. "Palindrome? But you aren't a palindrome…" she pointed out slowly, her mind seeking an explanation to this nonsensical name.

"It matters not what the name means," Palindrome was getting impatient – she didn't want to play with her food, she only wanted to eat it. It was getting cold, standing there in front of her. She would have to make it run around to heat it up once again. After all, she never ate her meals cold. "All that matters is that you shall die, and the cause of your death will be a Palindrome."

"What Palindrome shall that be?" Fiona was accepting the challenge – she would fight the being.

"Nurse, I spy gypsies, run!"

"I'm sorry, but that palindrome doesn't fit the occasion," Fiona aimed her ghost gun at the creature who was once known as Keira and fired.

* * *

Danny picked himself up before dusting his clothes off. He smiled at Valerie appreciatively but she just ignored him. It seemed that she still harboured anger towards him. It would disappear in the future, at least – the fact that she had come to save him was proof of this. If she truly hated him, she would've let him die.

Valerie left the area without a word to any of them. She had either disappeared to explore a different section of this place or she had left the abandoned hotel entirely. It was perfectly understandable – if Danny had a choice, he'd choose not to get caught up in all this mess. He envied Valerie that choice to come and go as she pleased.

"What now?" Jazz asked as they one by one broke free of what had once been their prison cell. She fussily pulled pieces of plaster and plastic from people's hair and dusted all of their clothes off, just like a mother. She even went to wipe a bit of grime from Tucker's face – she licked her finger and got only so close before he pushed her away. "We need to plan the next stage of Sam's rescue."

"Man, it stinks out her as well," Tucker made the observation and carried on childishly – he pinched his nose and swayed on his feet as though tipsy.

Danny had to agree with him on that point, though – it really did stink. He wasn't sure where the smell emanated from or what was the cause, but he wouldn't have been surprised if he had discovered a dead body in the hotel. Disgusted and horrified, sure, but not at all surprised. Even before the time that it had been abandoned, when there had been visitors, it hadn't been a very pleasant place to stay. The owner had been involved in some sort of shady business – assassinations or drug dealing. Danny suspected it was the latter – it would be a bit noticeable if people suddenly began to die in Amity Park.

"Jazz, you scan the building for Sam. You might pick up a signal due to the close proximity. Otherwise you'll have to search each and every room for her." Danny took charge of the situation once again, fitting quite comfortably into his role as the leader. He turned to Tucker. "I want you to find that ghastly thing from earlier and try to fight it if it is possible. If you need back up, just call and we'll be right there."

Tucker and Jazz both nodded their consent and left the area.

"What about me?" Kelly felt slightly left out – she was new at the whole ghost hunting stuff. She thought that her lack of experience was rendering her useless in the eyes of her comrades.

"Why, you're coming with me." Danny told her matter-of-factly. "We're going to find and then defeat Vlad once and for all. Are you in?"

"Definitely."

* * *

Maddie was standing silently in the Fenton lab, examining some of her more recent inventions. Ever since discovering the truth about her son – the truth she had been seeking for such a long time – she hadn't started on a single new project or completed any of her old ones. Instead, she'd spent her time looking for some inspiration for a new ghost related invention. She hadn't received any.

Her son was half ghost. The idea didn't seem as outrageous, now that she'd had a few days to get used to it. But it still caused a pain in her heart whenever she thought of her little boy. He was damaged – he was no longer human. It broke her heart.

_I'm a terrible mother,_ she felt pity for herself. She had tried her hardest to be the best mother that she could while sticking with her perfect career. Only recently had it gotten too hard to continue – she had lost all balance in her life. After all, it was hard to be a dedicated ghost hunter when her own son was half ghost.

_To think what I have done to him… _

She and Jack had created a ghost portal that hadn't worked until there had been an accident that Danny was involved in. That was when his behaviour had changed and when Danny Phantom had begun to appear around the town. That was when the town had become infested with these ghosts. She had killed half of her son. And then she had tried to kill another half of him – Danny Phantom – time and time again.

She had openly displayer her hatred for the 'town hero' only to find out that she was wrong about him – he truly was a saviour. He risked his life for such unappreciative people _every single day. _It was hard with her to cope with – one minute she hated Danny Phantom and loved Danny Fenton and the next she had realised that they were one and the same. Danny Fenton was Danny Phantom. It was playing with her mind, with her emotions. But after her initial shock had passed, she had begun to slowly adjust to the idea of her son being the infamous ghost boy.

And she had heartlessly kicked her son out of the comfort of their house and onto the cold, dirty streets. Once more she had hurt her beautiful little boy. There was nothing she could to do reverse her words or her actions – the time travelling device hadn't been successful. She felt a tear slide down her check as she was consumed by her regret.

She looked up and saw that Jack was standing in front of her. He hadn't spoken a word for the past day – in fact, he hadn't regarded her since she'd kicked Danny out. He was possibly disappointed in her and couldn't bear to face her. He had remained unusually quiet and calm. She hoped it was to allow her space to deliberate over her decisions.

"Let's go and get Danny," Jack suggested softly, kindness resonating throughout his voice.

* * *

Valerie ran towards the door that she knew Vlad would be hiding behind. She had to reach his room and speak to him before anyone else did. It was of the utmost importance. No one could find out about what she was about to do, otherwise she would lose the element of surprise.

She pushed hesitantly on the door and was relieved to find that it wasn't locked. She didn't look around for Vlad – it was too dark inside and she'd have no chance of spotting him, especially since he had the ability to turn invisible. Besides, her tracker led her straight to him.

"What are _you _doing here, Valerie?" It was Vlad Master's voice – he was in his human form. He stepped forward and lit a candle to allow her to see him.

Valerie waited for her eyes to adjust to the tiny flicker of light before she answered his question. "I know the truth," she confronted him boldly. "I know that you are half ghost and that you are evil. I know that you kidnapped Sam. I know that Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. And I know that you and Danny are enemies."

Vlad raised his eyebrows, impressed with her discoveries. His eyes revealed that deep in his mind he was calculating the likeliness of him getting out of a confrontation with her alive. He was also figuring out an escape route, in case the situation got a little bit sticky. "And why is it that you tell me all of this now, without even a nervous bone in your entire body?" He enquired, his eyes roaming around the room.

Valerie smiled diabolically up at him. "I want to join you in your mission to destroy Danny Phantom."

* * *

Jazz moved to the lobby of the building and looked about herself in amazement. She couldn't understand how anyone – including ghosts – could bear to live in such a horrid place. It was in the worst of conditions. Jazz was surprised that it hadn't been torn down yet – it was a major safety hazard. The walls were all crumbling and looked as though they would collapse at any time.

She looked at the gadget that she had taken from the lab the previous day. It was one of her mother's inventions – of that she was certain. It wasn't highly advanced technology but it was an exceptional tracker. Not only did it track ghosts, but it also tracker humans. It didn't even need DNA to do so – unlike some of those other inferior devices. This tracker just located any source of human body heat and showed the enquirer the human's physical appearance. The downside was that if you didn't know what person you were seeking looked like, it would be a whole lot more difficult.

She pressed the 'on' button and ran a san throughout the entire building. It only took her a few minutes and thankfully, she was left undisturbed in the lobby. There was an impatient beeping tone from the device as it showed Jazz its results. There were two humans moving around on the bottom floor – Danny and Kelly. Two humans and a ghost were near the room she'd just left – most likely Tucker, Valerie and Keira the ghost. And then on the floor above her were two more humans – she wasn't sure who it would be and didn't bother checking it out because the tracker had picked up a human and a ghost on the top floor.

The human was unconscious and the ghost was extremely powerful. She needed Danny and Kelly to help her with this one – she had finally found Sam.

* * *

Tucker had gone straight towards a room where some sort of commotion was to be heard. He found that the door had been blasted from its hinges. He shrugged and crept inside, not wanting to alert the ghost to his presence. He kept close to one wall so as to not be caught up in the fight.

He widened his eyes as he saw who exactly was fighting with Keira. He had instantly assumed that that was what Valerie had disappeared to do. However, it seemed that his assumption was wrong – the person fighting Keira was not a ghost hunter but a girl. To be specific, it was Fiona. Keira had posed as this little girl's best friend. It seemed that Fiona wasn't as pathetic as Keira had thought. After all, she had seen through the ghost's illusion.

But despite all of this, Tucker couldn't just let Fiona fight the ghost all by herself.

"Hey, big and ugly!" Tucker bellowed at the top of his lungs. There wasn't even a hint of fear in his body. He was used to being used as the distraction or the bait – he had had plenty of experience when it came to other ghosts.

"Stay out of this," Fiona warned Tucker as she fired an anti-ecto-blast towards Keira. "This is my fight."

But Keira had turned her eye to Tucker and had begun to lick her lips eagerly. Tucker felt like backing down so that he could run and hide in a corner but felt a certain responsibility towards this girl. He had to help her out, despite how much she might want to fight this beast alone.

"I sure am hungry," Keira's ghost admitted in a screechy voice that caused pain to Tucker's ears.

Tucker stood his ground as his stomach fluttered – after all, he was the distraction and could not disappear. He had to continue to distract the ghost despite his dreadful feelings towards the idea. He was careful not to draw any attention whatsoever to Fiona – he didn't even glance in her direction to see if she had taken advantage of the situation.

"Palindrome, no!" She cried out desperately.

_Apparently not._

Tucker screamed in agony as a searing pain shot through his body – the ghost known as Palindrome had bitten him and was beginning to eat him alive.

* * *

"I found Sam!"

Danny and Kelly spun around in shock as they heard Jazz call out to them. Danny's face lit up with a smile of relief. It quickly disappeared when he saw the expression on his sister's face, though. Jazz was obviously happy that Sam had been located but Danny could tell that she had bad news.

So could Kelly. "What is it?" Kelly asked. She glanced towards Danny and noticed that he was standing statue still. He was unable to speak.

"There's a really powerful ghost up there, guarding Sam." Jazz informed them breathlessly – she had been running through the hotel, trying to catch up to them.

"Well, if that's all, let's go." Danny was determined not to let the prospect of a powerful ghost standing between him and Sam scare him away.

"Sam's also unconscious." Jazz was crestfallen.

"Then we'll just have to wake her up," Kelly decided optimistically. "After all, what's the worst that could happen?"

"Well, I'd have to say that it is much worse than you think."

Danny, Kelly and Jazz all looked up to see Vlad Plasmius hovering in the air above their heads, smiling malevolently. His fangs were revealed in this triumphant grin of his. He had accomplished something truly terrifying.

"What are you talking about?" Once again, Kelly was the only one still capable of forming words.

"What I'm talking about is," Vlad paused dramatically, tasting the tension in the air. "The reason that you didn't pick up Sam on your scanner earlier and the reason that she is now said to be unconscious is this,"

He paused again before delivering the cold, hard truth to them.

"Sam is dead."

* * *

**Yeah. I never intended the Valerie thing to happen, and then I didn't intend Vlad to tell them that and all, but it made the chapter oh so more exciting! :) Tell me, was it ookay? I'm almost finished this story, wow. It's the longest story i've ever written (currently 145 pages, I think) because I get halfway through stories and give up on them. That's why I mostly don't post my stories until I'm almost finished. But if I post them before I finish, then it sometimes makes me feel more determined to finish them :) Anyway, I'll keep it short, almost done people!**

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**Review this story**

**Give me COFFEE...**

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	26. The Battle Continues

**Well hey it's another chapter! Just letting you know before you get into reading it, there will be one more chapter followed by the epilogue. I hope. I don't see how I can end it so quickly, but I'm thinking that if I do as much as I can and then cram the rest into the epilogue, it'll work. I've already dragged this story out for way longer than I had originally intended. I had planned for it to be about 40,000 words and a maximum of 20 chapters and well... see how that worked out? But i reckon it's good that it's longer than i thought it would be. It means that i am getting better at going on about nothing! Haha. It also means that I have improved a lot - i went from about 7 chapters in the original to... I think it'll be 28 chapters (including epilogue and prologue) in this one. That's pretty good. But then again, Not Just a Date was one of my earliest stories. But ah well. Anyway, I better post this so I can start on the next chapter. It's my goal to get it finished by tonight but I'm thinking it'll be unlikely. If I have to, I'll forget about watching armageddon today as well, since I don't have english tomorrow. But anyway. Here we go. Next chapter!**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-Five**

**The Battle Continues**

* * *

Tucker began to breathe again when he felt the beast remove its teeth from his body. His vision was black but he was still awake – he was still alive. He weakly moved his right arm – he couldn't move his left because the beast had bitten into his left shoulder – and ran it down his shirt. It came away sticky – he could guess that it was blood. He knew that he was right.

He groaned in pain as he tried to move himself – if he stayed in the same place, the Palindrome monster would return to eat him. He wouldn't be a sitting duck. He had to keep himself alive so that he could be taken to a hospital. Maybe the hospital could patch up his wounds. He dearly hoped that that was the case – he was too young to die. He hadn't even had a girlfriend yet.

"Hello?"

He blinked his eyes, his vision slowly returning to him. There was a shape in front of him – it was human and female. It was small, younger than he was, but in their early teens. He gasped as he realised that this was what Palindrome had disguised herself as – a human teenager – and began to wriggle about, trying to escape from his fate.

"No… don't… don't eat… me…" he whispered hoarsely, taking deep breaths. It was getting harder for him to breathe.

"It's me, it's Fiona! Wake up!" She placed her hands on his shoulders and looked into his eyes.

He sighed and blinked a few times – his vision was running away from him again. His surroundings went blurry and he felt his body give up on life itself. He was losing too much blood – Fiona had to staunch the wound. Unfortunately she didn't know that, and instead began to panic.

"Oh god, oh god, oh my god, far out no, no, no! Don't die, oh god, god, god, god! No!" she whispered, her breathing becoming faster as the panic overwhelmed her. "Damn, damn, god, I need help, oh damn god."

He heard her pressing down on something shakily only seconds before his hearing disappeared. He was floating in nothingness – he was dying.

* * *

"Someone has taken my tracking device," Maddie shrieked as she scattered various objects all throughout the lab. "My most recent version, it's gone!"

"Settle down Maddie," Jack advised his wife. "I'm sure one of the kids took it with them. We can just use mine!" He seemed fairly cheerful about using the faulty tracker that he had invented. Although Maddie could quickly reprogram it so that it worked reasonably well, it was still nowhere near as good as the one that she herself had created.

"Give it here," Maddie commanded. Jack obeyed her quickly, handing over the poorly built gadget. Maddie pulled a screwdriver from her back pocket and began to pull the piece of junk apart. She was just glad that she was so experienced at creating such devices – otherwise it would take them forever to find their children. And Maddie had what she would call a 'mother's intuition' and was feeling that her kids were in danger.

"There, done." She cried as she replaced the back.

"Wow, that was quick!" Jack commented as he snatched the small computer from his wife. "How does this thing work?"

Maddie rubbed her forehead in exasperation. "You created it, dear. Here, I'll handle the tracker, and you go and get me something of Danny's. Perhaps a piece of hair from his hairbrush."

"Got cha!"

* * *

Danny felt his knees collapse beneath his body. His best friend, Sam, dead? It couldn't be possible. There was no way that Vlad could have killed Sam. She wouldn't have died so easily. And why would her dead body be guarded by a powerful ghost? It was a lie. It had to be – Sam just _couldn't _be dead.

"Liar," Danny hissed between his teeth, forcing a flood of tears back to where they came from. He wouldn't believe Vlad until he had proof of Sam's death. He wouldn't believe anything that anyone told him. And more importantly, he wouldn't let his emotions get the better of him. He would triumph – he would defeat Vlad once and for all. The lies that came from Vlad's mouth only made Danny anticipate his death.

"I tell the truth," Vlad assured him in an innocent voice.

Danny was not going to be fooled so easily. Little did he know that his sister had already slipped out of the room and was heading straight for the room that Sam was residing in. Little did he know he was buying both his sister and his best friend time. The only thoughts running through his mind were: _Must destroy Vlad. Vlad must die._

"We know that these lies that you tell us are absurd." Kelly growled fiercely, her hand upon Danny's shoulder.

"Oh, and you, a pathetic little human, think you can stand up to me, the world's most powerful ghost?" Vlad asked incredulously. "I think not, mortal!"

"We'll see," Kelly grinned – she was hungering for a fight. And a fight was what she would get.

Danny stood up slowly; his eyes were glowing a bright green colour. He stared at Vlad, letting only a small amount of his fury show in his expression. He didn't need to threaten Vlad – it would only be a waste of his time. There was no chance at all that Danny wouldn't win this fight. And with Kelly's help it would only be easier to defeat the older ghost. Together, they could do anything.

Vlad hadn't realised that Kelly was actually half ghost – he assumed she was just some human play toy of Danny's who was oblivious to their ghost powers. He assumed that he had the upper hand in this battle because Danny wouldn't reveal his secret identity to some measly human that he had only just met. Vlad was overconfident.

Danny and Kelly shared a glance and nodded. Together, they brought up their rings of light. Blue and red appeared simultaneously. Both split into two separate rings, one ring travelling up while the other travelled down. The rings moved in unison, changing the humans into their ghost forms. Danny Phantom and Kelly-Go-Boom had been unleashed.

Kelly-Go-Boom's appearance was unique when it came to ghosts. Her hair was long and olive green and billowed around her head as though it were made of flames. Her eyes were the brightest of reds, a shining ruby colour. Her skin was pale and smooth, seemingly made of marble. Her clothes were quite unique. She wore a vivid cherry headband that matched the hue of her eyes, as well as a strangely-styled red shirt, red skirt and long red laced up boots. The fringes of her garments were all the same colour as her hair – she was colour-coordinated. She had short, fingerless gloves upon her delicate hands and wore a necklace that had a charm on the end. The charm had a 'K' etched into it and was similar in style to the belt that she wore.

Danny Phantom didn't look like an average ghost, either. Instead he looked more like a ghost hunter – he wore a black hazmat suit that covered his entire body. He had long boots and long gloves, both the colour of the moon at night. He had a D on his chest with a little section cut out of it, making up the 'P in a D' logo that was uniquely Danny Phantom's. He had a moon-white collar and belt. His eyes were a bright ghostly lime green and his hair silver. He was the ideal image of night – the black sky filled with bright stars and a shining silver moon.

Vlad Plasmius, on the other hand, was a typical ghost. He had hair that was styled like Dracula's and bright red eyes with no whites at all to be seen. His eyes were ringed with black – though if asked he would deny the fact that he wore eyeliner – and his skin was a sickly green shade. He had a close-cut black beard and heavy set black eyebrows. He wore a cape and a shirt that showed off his muscled torso. He wore black gloves, black boots and a black belt. He even had the vampire fangs to go with it. He looked like a green version of the typical vampire.

"Another half ghost?" Vlad cried in surprise.

Danny smiled at Kelly and she beared her teeth at Vlad, sniffing the older man's wariness. Without further ado, the two younger half ghosts both shot ecto-blasts towards the older being.

* * *

Jazz was getting closer to Sam. Her tracker was going crazy – it was signalling the entrance of many different people in close proximity to Sam. But these people weren't in the same room as her – no, they were all storming the hotel from below. Jazz decided to ignore them for the time being, hoping that they weren't Vlad's reinforcements or anything.

Jazz turned a corner and smiled grimly as she found herself at a big purple door. It loomed over her fiercely, daring her to attempt to gain entrance. She stood quiet and listened to the noises from the inside. She could hear nothing but hollow breathing – she hoped that it belonged to Sam. If so, it meant that her suspicions had been right – Vlad had just been trying to bait Danny into giving up. He wanted Danny to be destroyed by his emotions so that he would be easy to defeat. Jazz just hoped that Danny wasn't blind to Vlad's evil plan.

She grasped the doorhandle and almost yelped in pain. The handle was on fire! It was made of metal. It had obviously been heated up by someone or something to prevent intruders from entering. It was not going to keep her from saving Sam. She would prevail. All that she had to do was find a way to open the door without harming herself. It was easily done.

She pulled her backpack off of her back and used one of the straps to protect her hand from the searing hot doorknob. She winced as the strap of the backpack began to grow hot and smoke, but nevertheless she continued on. She felt the door come free of the frame and pushed slightly, letting go of the knob. She had done it – she had successfully beaten the trap.

"Human!" It was a deep, echoing voice. It boomed throughout the room and terrified Jazz. She could sense his supreme essence as his incredible power radiated off of his skin. She winced as she realised what she had gotten herself into – instead of saving Sam, she would kill both herself and the Goth.

"I am hungry!" It roared grumpily.

Jazz screamed.

* * *

Vlad had noticed Jazz's disappearance but had paid it no mind. After all, it was Valerie's job to make sure that all wandering idiots were found and held captive. Vlad had told her that he'd take care of Danny by himself until Valerie was done. When she had finished her mission, she would return and help him capture the half ghost. Unfortunately, Valerie had forgotten to tell him of Kelly being a half ghost as well. _No matter, I can take care of this._

Vlad duplicated his form to help him to deal with both of the 'ghost brats' at the same time. It also made it harder for them to injure him – they wouldn't know which duplicate to hit. He could attack them from all sides with these duplicates. With his superior powers and extensive knowledge he had the advantage in this fight. It was stupid of the two to fight him – they would lose. He would ensure that they lost pathetically, as well.

Danny didn't seem to be phased by these other Vlad's. Instead he relentlessly attacked with his ghost rays and his ice blasts. Kelly-Go-Boom wasn't as experienced as Danny, though, and could only attack with minor blasts. She caused about three of the duplicates to 'go boom' though, so she wasn't to be underestimated. But Vlad wasn't scared that he'd underestimated them – oh no, in fact he was sure that he had _over_estimated the two.

Danny cried out as he was pinned by the real Vlad. Kelly found herself in a likewise situation, except her foe was a duplicate. But neither of the half ghosts could move to fight for their lives – it seemed that Vlad was wearing some sort of anti-ghost gloves. It didn't make sense, though. If Vlad wore anti-ghost gloves in his ghost form, wouldn't they stop him from using his powers as well?

There was no use in pondering this question – it wouldn't get them away from his clutches. Unless they could discover what was going on here and then use the knowledge to their advantage. Unfortunately, they wouldn't find anything out anytime soon.

"Freeze, ghost!"

Danny was surprised to see his father barrel through the doorway and aim his gun at the Vlad that was pinning Kelly-Go-Boom to the floor.

"Get off my son, you putridly ghastly ghost!"

It was Maddie.

* * *

**Yay, it's Maddie! Okay, so about a million times I wanted to put little author notes in the middle but I decided to keep them at the end :) I realised that I hadn't quite explained what Kelly looked like before so I opened up a picture of her (I drew an anime styled picture of her and Danny :) ) and then I just described her. I was writing Danny's description and trying to think of a new way to say silver, and then I thought moon and then I thought NIGHT SKY :D And Tucker. Haha, I like to kill people... But you'll get an update on that situation in the epilogue - I don't think I'll put it in the next chapter. I like comparing Vlad to a vampire. I couldn't be bothered making this chapter emotional or anything, so Danny's in denial. And... yeah :):) All the loose ends shall be tied either in the next chapter or the epilogue. I will try not to miss anything at all. But for now that's all from me! Ow my finger hurts... I cut it on my coffee machine while trying to froth up my milk... Next thing I knew, it was bleeding all over the place. And then I looked in the milk and saw it had bled in there... has happened to me twice, now.**

**Bye!  
**

**Love from an eager little grasshopper...  
**


	27. The Battle Ends

**Oh my god. Next chapter is the epilogue. This is about 1,500+ words from being finished. Oh, but I love writing this story so very very much. And then I'll have to wait until I finish either Changing Their Fate or Vortex of Deception or both before I start on I'm Not The Same As You which I will think of a new title to and then post it at the end of this story. Oh, I love writing this story, why do you have to do! I have to plan the next story, first. Which means I'm going to have to go through I'm Not The Same As You and copy down all the important details and then replan it. Oh but I don't want to :'( I like this story so much but I can't drag it out. It's not that good a story, it's just so EASY to write! I'm not sure how long this is (pages) but I will figure out once I've done the epilogue. Next chapter is to tie the loose ends together. I actually began to tear up at the thought of this story ending. It's just my favourite story to write. But here we go**

**Second Last Chapter!! (only epilogue to go, people!)  
**

**

* * *

The Beginning**

**Chapter Twenty-Six**

**The Battle Ends**

* * *

Valerie had followed Jazz at a walking pace. She wasn't about to go and let the other girl know that she was being followed. After all, she wasn't particularly eager to reach the room that Sam was being locked in.

It was Valerie's idea to convince Danny that Sam had been killed. She knew that Sam held a dear place in his heart and that he'd be severely wounded by her death. But she also knew that he wouldn't let Vlad get away with doing something so evil. Valerie knew Danny – she knew that he would get revenge. He would use his emotions as a weapon against the older man.

Valerie was glad that she'd pretended to join Vlad. He hadn't even questioned her – he had just instantly believed that she was telling the truth. He had been a fool – he had told everything to her. He had told her of his plans and of what he had done to accomplish those plans. He had told Valerie what he had done to Sam and how he had ensnared the ghost that was controlling her. And now Valerie knew how to capture that ghost and employ it herself. And that was exactly what she was going to do.

She knew that she should be walking at a faster pace – if she didn't hurry up Jazz could be eaten by Dreamscape, the ghost that was guarding and controlling Sam – but she wanted to prolong the blissful moment during which she had no responsibilities. She was being selfish – she was risking two lives just so she would have a peaceful moment or two.

Valerie arrived at the wide open door. She stepped inside unhesitantly, surveying her surroundings as she did so. Sam was lying on the floor, still unconscious and awfully skinny. Valerie resisted the urge to run over to the Goth girl to make sure that she was still alive. She already knew the truth because Vlad had told her that he had ordered Dreamscape not to kill the girl, no matter what happened.

She saw that Dreamscape was huddled in the corner, his hands wrapped firmly around Jazz's neck. Jazz was unconscious.

* * *

Danny had an urge to call out to his mother in shock but decided to remain silent. He was confused – she had kicked him out and couldn't possibly love him anymore, yet here she was defending him from a ghost. His father looked the same as usual, although when Danny was studying Jack's face he noticed that his dad winked at him. He smiled slightly in return. Sometimes he felt as if his father was smarter than anyone ever gave him credit for.

"You're son!?" Vlad exclaimed, his eyes moving from Danny to his parents and back again. He was trying to ascertain whether Danny's parents knew the truth about him or not.

"It's Vlad Masters!" Kelly cried out as she wriggled free from the grasp of Vlad's duplicate. It seemed that his power was diminishing – Danny found that he was able to break free from Vlad as well. He did so and jumped into the air, out of reach of both his parents and Vlad. For now, at least.

"Vlad!?" Maddie gasped in horror. She had recognised this ghost upon entrance as one that she loathed. She now knew why she had always thought of Vlad as a creep – because he was one! He had obviously used his ghost powers for personal gain – how else did he get so rich and famous, so fast?

"Vladdy?" Jack asked quietly. He couldn't believe that this was his best friend. He had been so blind, so oblivious all this time. He should have figured it out earlier – it was perfectly clear to even a moron. So that meant that he was dumber than even a moron. It did wonders for his self-esteem. "What happened to you?"

"You!" Vlad roared bitterly, a frown set upon his face. "You're what happened to me! You and your bumbling mistakes half killed me! And then you stole the woman I was in love with and had the perfect kids with her! And then you went and half killed your own _son_! You're such a bumbling _fool!_"

Jack was horrified by the words coming out of this ghost's mouth. He hadn't noticed that his friend harboured such bitter feelings inside of him. Vlad had always seemed friendly and flippant. It was all a lie, though.

Danny took advantage of the situation. He had to defeat Vlad before anything terrible could happen to Sam, for he still believed that his friend was alive. He had to make sure that Jazz was okay and find out what on earth had happened to Tucker. After all, he had sent the techno-geek to fight with a ghost and had told him to call for help if he needed it. Danny hadn't been called and Tucker still hadn't found him. He had been with that ghost for almost twenty minutes. It didn't take that long to suck a ghost into a thermos, or even to be killed.

Danny turned to face Vlad, opened his mouth wide and bellowed.

His ghostly wail came out more powerful than ever before – due to his training, Danny was getting stronger in every single aspect – and hit Vlad full in the face. But Danny knew that it would be enough. Walls behind Vlad crumbled and almost collapsed as the bulky ghost was sent flying into them. Vlad roared in pain but he was still strong enough to defeat all of them.

Kelly sent a few of her exploding blasts towards Vlad, inflicting more pain on the half ghost. Taking the hint, Maddie raised her hand gun towards Vlad and began to fire. Jack was glaring at Vlad, focusing on unleashing his anger, as he aimed and fired his bazooka. Vlad was writhing with pain against the wall yet none of them ceased to attack him. They had to be certain that his strength was gone before they stopped.

Unfortunately Danny couldn't keep wailing forever. He soon ran out of breath and energy and found himself collapsing on the floor. His head spun as his eyelids grew heavy. He shook his head in irritation – he wasn't going to pass out – and looked at the scene in front of him. Vlad was lying on the floor, unconscious but not dead. Everyone had stopped attacking him – they felt a small sympathy towards the weak man – and had turned to look at Danny.

Maddie looked upset and as if she wanted to hug her son close to her but stood back, uncertain. Danny didn't feel like talking to her at the time – he knew that he had so many other important things to do. Now that Vlad was temporarily defeated, he had to go and see what had happened to Sam. He had to know the truth – if she was dead or alive. He would find Tucker next.

He pulled his Fenton Thermos from his belt and sucked Vlad into it before turning to Kelly. She looked tired but she was prepared to fight some more. "Let's go," he whispered exhaustedly.

Without another word or look to his parents, Danny left with Kelly in the direction that Jazz had run.

* * *

Valerie pulled a weapon from her belt and fired it at Dreamscape without even bothering to look to see what weapon it was that she held. She was grateful as an ecto-blast hit Dreamscape square in the chest – she would have been slightly upset if it had been one of her guns that sent the ghost directly to the ghost zone. Then she would have to seek Dreamscape out and then ensnare him like Vlad had done earlier that month.

According to Vlad, it took a few weeks to build up his power. That was why it had taken Vlad so long to kidnap Sam – he had had to start slow. Only in the past week had Dreamscape's powers come into their full potential. Valerie would hate to have to start from scratch. All she had to do now was get him to obey her. It should be easy.

"Dreamscape," she spoke his name solemnly, drawing his attention to her. She had to remain calm otherwise he would use her emotions to his advantage. He was capable of doing that. After all, he was one of the most powerful ghosts ever.

"I am Valerie." She introduced herself quietly as she snuck a quick glance at Jazz's crumpled body. Dreamscape had dropped the girl when Valerie had shot him. Valerie was relieved to see that Jazz was alive and was able to breathe. Realising that she was feeling a strong emotion, she pushed thoughts of Jazz from her mind.

"I am Dreamscape." It replied as though entranced by her.

"I speak ancient words of greeting." It was as though they followed a script – there was a certain procedure used here. You had to speak in the right tone of voice and say the correct words with perfect pronunciation. These small factors were of the utmost importance. All this she had learnt from Vlad. He had told her not only the words that put Dreamscape in her service, but terminated his service to another. This was what she was doing – she was terminating Dreamscape's service to Vlad. "Auk uerf kurae nigsche euighe ne svar." She was fairly certain that she had got it all correct.

Dreamscape nodded at a snail's pace. "Auk uerf ne svar." He replied courteously.

Valerie felt herself begin to sweat under the pressure but forced herself to remain calm. So far she was doing well. She didn't have to speak in any other languages in the final part of the termination. Of that she was glad. "I come in peace to seek a piece of you."

Although anyone else would have ripped Valerie's throat out for that sentence, Dreamscape wasn't like everyone else. Instead, Dreamscape smiled widely. "I have a piece that will go with peace to you."

"I ask in turn that you shall create peace with your last piece." Valerie hoped that she had gotten this part right. Her memory wasn't perfect.

"I will consider creating peace with my former piece." Dreamscape replied.

Valerie breathed a sigh of relief before straightening up and looking directly into Dreamscape's eyes. "Due to this spell placed upon you by one so mighty I bid that you do this one thing unto this one person."

Dreamscape bowed low to the ground. The small 'ceremony' was complete – he was under Valerie's control. "I bid that you remove your vines from Samantha Manson's mind." Once this was done, she would have to return Dreamscape to the ghost zone. She had asked for only one thing from Dreamscape and if he so chose to do that thing for her, then he would be free. He would have no master. If he didn't return to the ghost zone straight away, he would roam the streets with all of his power restored to him. It was a disastrous thought. Unfortunately, Valerie didn't have a ghost-thermos on her.

"I will," Dreamscape obeyed her and nodded towards Sam. Valerie watched as the unconscious Goth girl began to shift. Dreamscapes roots had been detached from her mind and she was fast asleep. There was only one more thing that Valerie had to take care of. Dreamscape himself.

Danny came running through the door at the exact same moment, having heard the ecto-blast strike Dreamscape's chest earlier. He looked from Valerie to the ghost, slightly confused. He wasn't sure if he should attack it – after all, Valerie was just standing there looking at it – or if he should just stay out of it.

"Suck it up, now!" Valerie shrieked.

Danny pulled out his Fenton Thermos and sucked the ghost inside. He closed the thermos with relief and turned to look at the surrounding scene. Sam was lying on the floor, clearly asleep. She was breathing normally but looked unusually hollow and skinny. She would be okay, though. She had a haunted look about her that would hopefully disappear once she felt better.

On the other side of the room was his sister, Jazz. She had massive welts across her neck as though she had been strangled by the ghost. And she probably had. She was breathing deeply but seemed to be okay. She looked a little bit freaked out but Danny knew that she'd recover quickly. She'd always been the strong one in the family.

Danny smiled in relief as his parents entered the room. Maddie went straight for Jazz while Jack stood next to Danny. It was all over, for now. Sam would get better and so would Jazz. They would discuss this. He would sort everything out with his parents, and he would talk to Tucker about what had happened.

"What happened to Tucker?" Danny asked in a panic.

"There are all these medical people downstairs. Apparently they took him to the hospital, but they say he'll be fine. You did a good job back there, son." Jack complimented Danny.

"Thanks," Danny whispered, unused to be spoken to so solemnly by his father.

"I'm proud of you, son."

* * *

**Aww I love Jack :) Can't you tell? He's so awesome. He's the best :) Haha. Aww, so close to being finished. I had trouble reaching the 2,000 word mark, and then I realised I'd left out a crucial detail and so then it become 2,300 words :) So that's good. I'm hoping to make my epilogue at least 2,000 words but I suck at doing long epilogues/last chapters. But it shall be up tonight. I have 3 hours to write it. I doubt it will take me 3 hours to write. The last chapters are always the easiest for me to write. I hate writing the beginnings of stories most of all, and the whole climax action sort of stuff is good, and then the ending is my second favourite. But enough chit chat for now. The epilogue will be up soon.**

**Please do review. Look how many chapters I posted today! I deserve some credit! **

**Love from the almost finished Kirstyn.  
**


	28. Epilogue

**It's finished! NOOO!  
158 pages, Arial, size 12 font! Okay, read the epilogue and I'll talk at the end :'( I can't believe it's really over.  


* * *

The Beginning**

**Epilogue**

* * *

Danny, Jazz, Maddie and Jack were all sitting in their lounge room back at Fenton Works. They had all been examined in turn by on-the-scene doctors but none had been confined to a hospital. They had inspected the marks on Jazz's neck and had suggested that she have an x-ray done just in case something was damaged, but she decided that it could wait. For the time being, they had given her cream to rub on the wounds each night.

Danny occupied the arm chair while Maddie and Jack had the sofa. Jazz was sitting cross-legged on the floor hugging her bear, Bearbert Einstein, to her chest as though she were still a small child. Danny didn't tease her for it – if he had a bear to cuddle close to he would probably be doing the exact same thing that she was doing. Today had been an emotionally and physically exhausting day.

"Danny, I'm so sorry," Maddie apologised, tears filling her eyes. Her lower lip quivered as Jack put his arm supportively around his wife. "It was an awful thing… oh god, I can't believe… I'm so sorry, Danny."

"It's okay," Danny smiled weakly. He had to be strong for all of them. He couldn't reveal the fact that he had been lost without his parents love. He couldn't tell them that her words had wounded him for life. And most of all, he couldn't tell them that he hadn't wanted to go on – he had contemplated killing himself. He had stopped himself from doing that one selfish thing – committing suicide.

"I don't know how I could ever make it up to you," Maddie babbled in a high-pitched voice.

"It's fine," Danny assured them. "I'm serious. You made a mistake. Everyone makes mistakes at some time – and if you didn't, then who would Jazz and I learn from?"

Maddie laughed shakily as she realised that her child was trying to comfort her. "Oh, Danny, you don't know how proud I am of you."

Danny looked down at his lap bashfully.

"We all are," Jazz whispered.

* * *

Danny hadn't seen Sam since he had delivered her to the ambulance workers. He hadn't returned to school for the rest of the week – the school was notified of the reason for his absence – and hadn't spoken to any of his friends. He had needed a bit of time to relax, and to be by himself. He had to sort through all of his unfinished business. He hadn't even hunted a ghost. His parents had taken care of them for him.

But now it was once again a Monday and he had decided that it was time to make an appearance at school. He had heard from his parents that none of his friends had shown up at school last week, either. But he had messaged Kelly as soon as he woke up on Monday morning to see if she was going. She had answered with a yes. The fact that he would see Kelly made him all the more eager to return to his normal life. Well, semi-normal life.

Tucker wouldn't be returning to school yet – he was stuck in the hospital for a little bit longer. He couldn't move his left arm because Palindrome had severed one of his tendons with her teeth. He had lost a fair bit of blood and was still being examined for infection or other problems. He was due to be released at the end of the week, if not earlier.

Danny wasn't sure what had happened to Valerie – she hadn't talked to any of them as she left the battle scene. Danny knew that she had been the one to save Sam from the ghost he had sucked into his Fenton Thermos and he owed her a debt. She had had a choice – to run or to save Sam. She had been brave and courageous and she had saved Sam. Danny was forever grateful.

It was his hope that Sam would also be at school that day, but he couldn't be certain. He had tried to call her a few times but her mother wouldn't let him speak to her. She was the sort of paranoid mother that would have had Sam confined to her bedroom for the entire time that she'd been home. But it was better than having a frivolous mother who didn't care for her child's welfare.

Danny left for school.

* * *

"Danny!"

He smiled as he turned around and spied Kelly running towards him. Her face was lit up by a grin and wasn't smeared with blood – unlike that terrible day she had stood up against Vlad for the first time. She was carrying a small exercise book in her right hand but as she neared Danny she dropped this upon the grass. Danny opened his arms wide and she flung herself at him.

"Danny," she whispered as he placed his arms around her body in an embrace.

"I love you," he whispered against her hair, inhaling the apple scent of her shampoo. His stomach fluttered as these words left his mouth – for he knew that it was the truth. Despite the fact that he'd only known Kelly for a maximum of two weeks, it seemed like they had spent their life together. They had been through so much since she had come to live in Amity Park. His feelings had developed quickly and intensely.

"Oh, Danny, I love you too," she confessed as she pulled back to look into his delightfully baby blue eyes.

Danny smiled and leant forward, his eyes focused on her soft pink lips. She met him halfway in a kiss – the first contact they'd had in almost a week. Danny felt himself melting against his girlfriend. His _girlfriend. _He still couldn't quite believe that it was true. _Kelly… _She had brought so much to the town, much more than she had expected. She was not only another hero for the town of Amity Park to gossip about, but she had filled the void in Danny's heart.

* * *

Sam and Valerie met them at Danny's locker. It seemed that the two girls had been there for quite a while, waiting for the two lovebirds to make an appearance. The people in the hallway gave the four some space – they had all heard a version of what had occurred in the abandoned hotel. Danny's parents had thought up the story to explain everything.

"Sam!" Danny grinned as his best friend wrapped her arms around him and squeezed him tightly.

She wasn't as skinny and haunted-looking as she had been when she was unconscious, and she seemed to be in a good mood. She was almost completely recovered – it would take a while for her to return to her usual self. But for the moment, she was as close as she got to the old Sam. Danny pulled back from the hug and smiled happily at Sam.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Sam." Danny whispered.

Sam just nodded. "We should ditch first period. We need to talk."

* * *

Valerie had come with them because she had decided that she wanted to talk to them about everything that had occurred since Kelly Stager had moved to town. Although Sam had been in Dreamscapes clutches before Kelly had arrived, it wasn't until that time that things began to get more serious. They still didn't know what exactly had happened to Sam.

So they had gone to a spot in the park – not Danny and Kelly's special spot but one similar – where they would be undisturbed so that they could discuss this. They all promised to make sure that they were back in time for second period – they had already missed too much school as it was.

"So…" Danny began, his arm firmly around Kelly.

"I'll tell you what happened to me," Sam volunteered. There was a silence so she decided to dive into her story. "It's only short, though. Basically, I felt a bit strange. I felt as if someone was playing with my emotions. I would get upset for no reason at all. Sure, that's normal for a teenage girl, but this was a bit eccentric. I couldn't remember any of my dreams and I'd black out for short periods of time. It was really beginning to freak me out. I had no control of myself. It then got to the stage where I was only awake for about ten minutes of the day at the most. I do remember the five minutes after I had set the school on fire – I was scared and I ran. But then I blacked out once more. I can't remember much else until I woke up at the hospital."

Valerie cleared her voice, seeking permission to speak. "Dreamscape was a ghost that played with people's dreams and their emotions. One of the most powerful ghosts there ever was. His powers were bound many years ago, according to Vlad. Vlad used Dreamscape to invade your dreams and manipulate you into doing the things you did. Once Dreamscape had a better control of you, he began to toy with your emotions. And then he put you into an endless nightmare. According to Vlad, that is." She informed them reluctantly.

"According to Vlad?" Danny was slightly suspicious. _Why would Vlad have told Valerie his plans?_

Valerie hesitated before replying. "I pretended to want to join Vlad. I got all of his information out of him and then went straight to free Sam from Dreamscape. I needed to do something – I just couldn't sit by idly as Sam was killed. And this was the best idea. I wasn't actually going to betray you."

"We believe you," Kelly assured Valerie kindly. "I would have taken the opportunity had I been you."

Sam was still a little bit confused, though. "So… Kelly's half ghost?"

* * *

Valerie put the flowers beside Tucker's hospital bed. She hadn't felt up to visiting him at an earlier time but now she felt guilty because of her selfishness. He was stuck in a white bed, bored out of his wits while she moved around freely. She should've come to see him. But there was nothing she could do to change anything.

"Hey," Valerie grinned at Tucker as she took a seat beside his bed.

"Hi, Val." Tucker was pleased to see her. He wasn't his usual joker self – instead he seemed slightly worn out. He had almost been eaten alive by a hungry ghost.

Valerie wasn't sure what to say to him so she just looked around at the get-well cards that he had acquired. There was another bunch of flowers with a large card on it signed by Fiona. On the bottom it read, _thanks for saving me! _Valerie felt warm inside as she considered how brave Tucker, an average human boy, had been. She had sure discovered a lot about him in the past two weeks. She had once loathed him. Now she was beginning to like him.

"How's everyone?" Tucker asked as he tapped his fingers nervously against the side of his bed.

Valerie slid her hand hesitantly into his and blushed. She smiled shyly at him as she remembered that he'd asked her a question. "They're all getting better and everything. Danny's back to normal and so is Kelly. Sam's really close to being her old self. She wasn't hurt all that much."

"Did she really set the school on fire?" Tucker wondered as he stared at his and Valerie's interlocked hands.

"Yeah. But we blamed that on the ghost, so no one is suspicious anymore."

"Thanks, Val." Tucker whispered, his eyelids shutting.

Valerie looked at his sleeping figure in adoration. She removed her hand from his, placed a kiss upon his cheek and left his hospital room, her outer appearance conveying none of the outrageous emotions inside her body.

* * *

Danny sat with Kelly on his lap at the top of a hotel, this one not abandoned. He looked towards the beautiful sunset, his arms around Kelly's stomach. She leaned back into him comfortably with a satisfied sigh. Danny felt a shiver going down his spine – it wasn't a ghost, but his body's reaction to Kelly.

"I love you," he whispered once again, wanting to express his feelings as much as possible while he still could. One day he could be gone, and he wanted her to know exactly how he felt. But words couldn't possibly convey his feelings to her.

Kelly turned around to look at him. "I'll always love you, my beautiful Phantom," she whispered into his ear.

He caressed a cheek before their lips met in a kiss. It was a promise – a promise of everlasting love.

* * *

**I had to end happily. You just can't end this sort of story with more bad news. I tend to start stories with the bad news, and end them with happy news.. though sometimes if there's a sequel it'll be bad news. And there will be a sequel. Just not until I am either almost finished or finished another story of mine. And to think, I wrote the entire story (apart from the first three chapters) in only two weeks. How amazing am I? Haha. That's like, a whole book. Though I'm not sure if it was two weeks or three. Ah well. Damn, I love writing this story so much. Now I have to work on Changing Their Fate and Vortex of Deception and I don't want to. And I also have to think of a title for the next story! Ahhh! I'll do it sometime... I need you Steph, why do you have to be banned?!?! :'( Umm... I don't know... how about... Fenton to Phantom: ...something. Okay well I'll decide what to call it when I've actually finished planning it and I've actually spoken to Steph about it. But if you want to read it (which is doubtful but you should always try new things) either put me on author alert, this story on story alert (because I'll prob post another chapter titled SEQUEL INFORMATION) or check my profile in perhaps a month. But I am afraid I'm going to have to stop writing now :( I have lots of homework that I have forgotten to do. I hope that you guys enjoyed this, my longest story, and I hope that you will send me a nice, pretty review :) And if I didn't tie something up, or if there's something you want to know, just review or pm me, and I'll reply. But... BYE!  
**

**Love from the finished KIRSTYN!  
**


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